88% on Rotten Tomatoes
Chloe's thoughts: It's alright; Proceed at your own risk
Watch it if you: Want to see a movie related to JFK; Want to see Natalie Portman perfectly portraying Jackie Kennedy; Don't mind a slow-moving biopic
I am quite fascinated by the whole JFK assassination, from seeing video footage of Jackie Kennedy scrambling over the car boot immediately after the shot rang out, to the image of Jackie in her iconic blood-stained pink suit while Lyndon B. Johnson is being sworn in, and even to the event being one of the most climactic lines of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire.
So I was quite excited for this film, even nearly crying at the trailer.
I wanted to love it, but unfortunately I just have to disagree with the critics on this one... it wasn't that good...
The saving grace here is really Natalie Portman, and if you want to see her doing possibly her best piece of acting, go watch this film because that alone makes the film deserving of a watch.
She looks beautiful here, like royalty. Her outfits are amazing, she has so much grace, and I think she must have studied Jackie Kennedy so much since she seems to have nailed her accent and even small mannerisms and body language. I seriously think Natalie Portman should be Belle, because for some reason I don't think Emma Watson looks her best in Beauty and the Beast, but I digress.
Natalie Portman does a fantastic job bringing Jackie to life and fleshing out her character; she balances fragility, vulnerability, and heartbreak so well with strength, poise, and dignity.
In particular, the scene where she is wiping JFK's blood from her face in front of the mirror while sobbing, the scenes in the car, and LBJ's swearing in were so emotional, I think I teared up in all of those scenes.
Unfortunately though, even with Natalie Portman's fantastic acting, the film in general is quite a bit boring and leaves you wanting more.
The film lacks clear direction, with it showing snippets of scenes from different time events making it seem a bit all over the place, and also with long stretches of sequences that seem very irrelevant (e.g. the televised tour of The White House restoration project, plus many others). It feels quite slow-paced, and almost like an indie/arthouse type of film.
An interesting thing is that they had handheld cameras in some scenes, which made it look like a documentary, so it looked almost realistic. They also seemlessly blended in old actual footage they got relating to Jackie's appearances, the car ride, the tour, and other stuff, and I thought that was pretty cool.
The score I think sounds good on its own, but I'm not sure if it actually fit in with some of the scenes; it felt a bit jarring and out of place. I get that they wanted us to feel a bit unnerved by the ominous score, but I just don't think it worked out 100%.
I haven't seen other films about the JFK assassination, so I'm not sure how this fares comparatively. I have heard that this is the best film to portray Jackie Kennedy, but it's still quite boring. It looks stunning, with great costumes and a great looking White House that takes you back to the 60s, but despite how perfect Natalie Portman was, it was still a bit of a dull.
A few side notes:
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