Difficult to find real access to, but still a good achievement

Rating: 6/10 (12 February 2017)

"Jackie" is a co-production between Chile, France and the United States and the first English-language movie by Pablo Larraín, the director of the Oscar-nominated "No". The writer is Noah Oppenheim and for him it is his third work as a screen writer after "The Maze Runner" and "Allegiant". More big names worked on this one, such as producer Darren Aronofsky. This 100-minute film is among the bigger awards players this season. Natalie Portman, who plays the title character, has won a lot for her performance and until her loss at the Golden Globes (to Huppert), she was a true contender in the Best Actress category. Even now, a win is still possible, her second Oscar win. The movie is nominated for 2 more Oscars, which shows that the Academy is fond of it. The cast includes other known names like Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig (in an unusual role compared to what I have seen her in), Billy Crudup and the late John Hurt in one of his final performances. First of all, it needs to be said that this is no Jackie Kennedy biopic. This is a movie that deal with the woman's life in the hours before her husband was murdered and in the weeks after. It is not about her husband. of course, there are scenes that relate more to him than to her, but overall the focus is much more on Jackie. These scenes would be the killing of course (the emotional highlight of the film), the way how his killer gets killed or also some of the political context, like Johnson taking over and references about the Cold War.
But the fact that there are also references about Jackie's two dead children and that she is basically in every single scene of the film show who is the central character here. The movie also really only focuses on what happened after the assassination. Chapters of her like like Onassis are not included. About Portman, I think she was pretty good. I am sometimes a bit undecided when it comes to her if I like her or not, but she deserves the Oscar nomination I think. Not too sure about a possible win though. Looking at how the action depicted in here is already more than half a century old and how all the characters (except the kids perhaps) have died, you can certainly call it a biopic. I think the movie really scores more through informational value and helps you to learn and understand new things instead of really making an emotional impact which also would have been possible. It is as bleak as Jackie's clothes transformation from pink to black in the face of what has already happened. Some parts work very well, some not so much. I am still a bit undecided about a certain historical/mythical reference Jackie keeps making on several occasions about Kennedy's presidency, even in terms of music ("Camelot"). I guess you have to decide for yourself. I myself recommend this movie especially to people old enough that they did not only live in the 1960s when this happened, but were at an age where they still remember it today. These are probably the ones who this film may have the biggest impact on. All in all, I am not wowed by the outcome here, but I am convinced and I think it is worth seeing.