I had reservations about seeing the quasi-biopic Jackie at all. It seemed like Oscar-bait, well-worn territory we've seen dozens of times before, for decades. So I brushed it off.
Looking for something reflective last night, I finally watched it and am happy to be proven wrong. Pablo Larrain Matte's Jackie is no ordinary, TV Movie of the Week melodrama. It's stark, despite its lush interiors, and quiet, despite its subject matter's prominence in history (the days after JFK's assassination).
What sets it apart from the run-of-the-mill biopic is not only it's slice of a very short period of time (not the usual birth-to-death, old-school biopic) but more importantly and strikingly, it jumbles the order of every scene in the movie. Past, present, and immediate future are jumbled up, scene-to-scene. Events from before and after the assassination are placed in a hypnotically odd order, framed by a story of Jackie Kennedy (Natalie Portman) giving her take on life after Jack to a somewhat belligerent journalist (Billy Crudup).
Portman, and her breathy, babydoll, New England accent, seemed forced to me in trailer clips, but it works better in context of the whole film. Stunning looking, as always, Portman gives a wounded, stunned and stunning performance as Jackie, from tears and dazed looks to determination.
Another triumph of the movie is the beautiful, melancholic score by the young British artist Mica Levi; her score is haunting, minimal, and slightly off-kilter, different from the usual glossy, syrupy, string-soaked orchestral scores that are used for most biopics. It's one of the things that sets Jackie apart from the pack, and sometimes turns your assumptions of familiar tropes on their head.
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