We all need to end this difficult week in the best possible way. For this, the therapeutic virtues of an excellent series and a good Netflix or Prime Video film should not be overlooked.
This is why the editorial staff of CNET France helps you choose from the plethora of offers on these platforms and has selected two inspiring programs to be found in the catalog of these SVoD streaming services.
For this Friday evening, our choice fell on the films Steve Jobs and The Strategist.
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An original and mastered biopic: Steve Jobs (Prime Video)
Synopsis
Centered around the launch of three iconic Apple products, the film takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution of the 80s, 90s and 2000s, and paints a portrait of the brilliant and extreme man who played a central role in it.
The opinion of CNET France
The biopic is always a delicate exercise, perched on a delicate balance between fantasy and reality. So when he takes on Steve Jobs, one of the most revered – and hated – men of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the outcome is bound to be perilous. It was without counting on the mastery of the men at the controls: the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (To the White House, The Social Network) and director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting28 days later, 127 hours).
The film, released four years after the death of the co-founder of Apple in 2011, avoids the trap of idealistic and hagiographic narrative, to focus on the human elements of Jobs’s life, and the decisions that resulted from it: his devouring ambitions, his tyrannical management, his problems with his daughter… A story that therefore dwells more on the flaws of a complex man, rather than seeking to embellish this controversial personality.
But the great strength is the originality of its structure. Far from being an ordinary “Wikipedia” and chronological biopic, Steve Jobs revolves around three key moments of Apple and its founder. Three product presentations (the Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT Computer in 198 and the iMac in 1998) which will crystallize, in the form of a frenetic and fascinating ballet, all the dramatic essence of a man’s life.
Aaron Sorkin’s fine and sharp dialogue is impressively effective, and Danny Boyle’s inspired directing transcends these modern gladiatorial combats wonderfully. As in the awesome The Social Network by David Fincher, meeting rooms, basements and theater corridors are then transformed into a modern arena, where words are swords. All of this would be nothing without the brilliant performance of Michael Fassbender in the lead role, and the cohort of talent that accompanies him in the casting: Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, Katherine Waterston…
Small jewel of goldsmithery, Steve Jobs is a unique and original biopic, which paints a fascinating and uncompromising portrait of the man behind Apple’s greatest moments. A huge film, intelligent, subtle and applied, to discover without delay.
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An inspiring true story: The Strategist (Netflix)
Synopsis
In the early 2000s, Billy Beane, a former baseball player, is on a mission to rebuild Oakland’s era on a shoestring budget. He decides to trust Peter Brand, a young analyst who uses statistics to choose players, and to lead a team like no one has ever done before him.
The opinion of CNET France
Sport has always created great moments of joy, drama and tension. The Strategist tells the little-known story of a team that changed its discipline, and even sport in general. Above all, it paints an intimate portrait of the modest and inspiring figures who were the architects of this revolution, in particular Billy Beane.
Written by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) and Steve Zallian (The Irishman, Schindler’s List), the film lingers on this promising former player, who did not have the hoped-for career, and who will stand up alone against all to impose his innovative ideas. A classic but formidable starting point, which wonderfully deals with the themes of redemption, faith and this sometimes absurd spirituality linked to sport. At the end of the film, we can only acquiesce in the face of Brad Pitt’s sentence: “How not to find romantic baseball?”.
The Strategist lingers much more on the backstage and bowels of the anatomy of baseball, more than on the games themselves. Just like in Steve Jobs advised above, locker rooms and meeting rooms become exciting places for verbal contests. The staging by Bennett Miller (foxcatcher, Truman Capote), in a very naturalistic style, manages to perfectly transcribe all the tension and the human stakes behind the truth on the ground.
Much more than just a sports film, The Strategist is a human, sensitive and poignant story, superbly interpreted by a high-level cast (Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Philipp Seymour Hoffman), and which will reinvigorate you with optimism and faith in humanity. A great film to discover without delay.
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On Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, 2 inspiring films to watch tonight – CNET France