“Steve Jobs” Now Playing at Village Theatre

Steve gazes back, unblinking. “Musicians play their instruments. I play the orchestra.”

Throughout “Steve Jobs,” the new movie from director Danny Boyle, Jobs’ legendary arrogance is front and center. The film is relentless in reminding the audience of just how driven, determined, and confident Jobs always was, no matter what disasters struck. He was equally self-assured as he accidentally forced his own ousting from Apple in 1985, and then crafted his rehiring as CEO of Apple in 1997.

Jobs’ life and accomplishments are too numerous to fit into a two-hour film, and screenwriter Alan Sorkin didn’t try to do so. However, the focus on just a few brief moments from Jobs’ life is perhaps the greatest flaw and the greatest accomplishment of this movie. The film shows only the 40 minutes before the launch of three of Steve’s greatest inventions — the Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT computer in 1988, and the new iMac in 1998 — all of which happen in large concert halls.

The drama focuses on the intense disagreements backstage before these launches, zeroing in on Steve’s conflict with his former lover Chrisann and daughter Lisa, with Apple marketing executive Joanna Hoffman, with his alienated Apple partners Steve Wozniak and Andy Hertzfeld, and with Apple’s former CEO John Sculley. These 40 minutes before each launch are fraught with angry disagreements that characterized the tensions of Jobs’ life: namely, his struggle for autonomy in every relationship. Ultimately, he was the conductor of his own orchestra, the one who made the company at first run into the ground, but ultimately made it soar.

“The repeating theme of backstage drama before each launch was an interesting way to make a movie,” says moviegoer Elliott, “but the theme got a little repetitive by the end. Still, it was fun to learn a little more about the personality and history behind such an important modern day figure.”