Review of Jackie (2016) by Erik L — 17 Mar 2017

A revealing glimpse into the life of a public icon in the aftermath of tragedy, Jackie is much less of a story than it is an acting showcase. It's a fine performance from Natalie Portman, a consistently excellent actress, who instils Jackie Kennedy with a poise and attempted tough demeanour which nearly always crumbles, exposing a raw frailty underneath.

Unfortunately, it becomes obvious that the movie doesn't have much material or substance to cover the runtime, and thus quickly becomes repetitive. To get us inside Jackie's head the director has opted to go with a multitude of wide-angle shots.

Portman's acting makes many of these work, but it still becomes tiresome, as does the often-dreadful score, which is mostly 3 repeated piano notes, and is jammed in even when there is no call for it.

Potential moments of silent contemplation and realisation are instead rendered as stock tear-jerkers, and the film suffers because of it. The editing includes utterly unnecessary cuts within scenes, and even at just under 100 minutes it still feels too long.

It has its memorable moments, and it was nice to learn a little about somebody I previously knew very little about, but I didn't get to feel for Jackie as much as I wanted to, and it's not an experience I'll be revisiting any time soon.