The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

Cube Critic: 'Steve Jobs'

  Play Now [6:04]

by Euan Kerr

October 16, 2015

Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs in 'Steve Jobs'
Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) with daughter Lisa Brennan (Makenzie Moss) in 'Steve Jobs', directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin.
Photo Credit: Francois Duhamel

Cube Critic Euan Kerr joins Jill Riley and Sean McPherson to talk about a biopic about Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs. The film, written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Danny Boyle, stars Michael Fassbender as the title character, plus Seth Rogen, Kate Winslet and Jeff Daniels.

"We have to be very clear: This is 'Steve Jobs' the movie, not 'Jobs' the movie," Euan says, distinguishing the new film from the 2013 movie starring Ashton Kutcher.

The 2015 Steve Jobs film is a Danny Boyle-directed adaptation of the Walter Isaacson biography. "It's absolutely breathtaking," Euan says.

Euan says the film is structured like a play; it consists of three scenes, each one centered on an instance where Steve Jobs is about to launch a product.

As for Fassbender's performance, Euan says, "You can't take your eyes off him. He plays this troubled genius."

Director Danny Boyle, who has directed such cinematic hits as Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, treads stylistically closer to his 2010 film, 127 Hours. "It becomes this character study," Euan explains, "so Danny Boyle really mines into this character, supported by these other amazing actors … They reappear at each one of these launches and touch certain parts of his psyche."

And although Jobs created a number of iconic products so many of us now find addicting, Steve Jobs is no hagiography. "You come away thinking, 'There's someone I wouldn't want to have come round for milk and cookies'," Euan says. "It's really, really, really intense."

Steve Jobs is rated R and is showing at Landmark Uptown Theatre in Minneapolis.

MPR's Cube Critics, Stephanie Curtis and Euan Kerr, join The Current's Morning Show to talk about films every Friday at 8:30 a.m.