JACKIE

(2016) A few minutes in to Jackie, Natalie Portman's voice and way of talking as the iconic former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy seemed forced and just ... odd.  Then I checked out some video of the real former Mrs. Kennedy on YouTube, particularly the White House tour reconstructed in this well-made biography, and realized how spot-on Portman was in her performance.  Jackie opens with a journalist (Billy Crudup) showing up at Jacqueline Kennedy's door just weeks after the death of her husband, determined to write her story in the aftermath of the shooting while in turn Jackie sets the tone by informing the writer that what gets into print will only be what she wants to get into print (even after she and her children left the White House, Jacqueline Kennedy was determined to keep her husband - and Camelot's - legacy alive).  Portman carries the film on her slim shoulders, deftly portraying both the fragility and iron-willed strength of a woman trying to do right by her husband, kids and country, and it's certainly a performance worthy of the Oscar nomination she received - even if the film itself occasionally comes across as chilly and emotionally distanced as its subject.  Having been born just eleven months before JFK's assassination, for me Jackie was a fascinating look at a side of the story I'd never seen told before.  And even while capturing her aloofness to perfection here, Natalie Portman still manages to masterfully create a portrait of a woman whose pain, beneath all that strength and will, was so heartbreakingly real. (rated R)  7.5/10 stars