Jackie

Ein Film über die Organisation der Beerdigung von Präsident Kennedy. Leider gehört Jackie zu den Biopics, die nur einen minimalen Ausschnitt aus dem Leben einer Schlüsselfigur aufgreifen und darauf aufbauen. Der Film vermittelt nicht mehr als die gesteigerte Emotion eines einzigen Moments, und das ist eine völlige Verschwendung für die Oberfläche eines Spielfilms. (27.10.2021)

Der Regisseur hat einen einzigartigen Stil. Er hat ein Werk für Café-Intellektuelle für ein breites Publikum gefilmt. Der Film ist interessant, er enthält seinen traditionellen Minimalismus und eine monotone Rhythmik. Aber er ist auch leer, ohne einen dramaturgischen Bogen oder eine gedankliche Message. Nur die Café-Besucher werden daran Spaß haben, sich über sein Vorhaben zu unterhalten (ohne dass sie, wie immer, zu einem Schluss kommen würden). (08.02.2017)

A non-Hollywood gem through and through, dominated by stewed emotions and a contact camera. Natalie Portman is in a different league, but I feel like this story of a fresh widow deserves a stronger framing, perhaps in a film where she's not the lead, but rather a prominent supporting character. Larraín pulls it off extremely artistically, but the stranglehold on the audience's empathy gets annoying in the second half. (18.12.2017)

Jackie is actually an illustration of the opposite of Wes Anderson. Here we also have characters looking into the camera in centred compositions, characters in spacious interiors with fragmented sets and often a bold colour palette, as well as other stylistic devices primarily associated with the quirky hipster auteur. However, whereas Anderson takes delight in artificiality and stiffness suddenly interspersed with eruptions of chaotic bustle, Larraín shows the depressing nature and heaviness of rooms intended for dolls. Through the story of the first lady, who has to build a legacy of future history on a foundation of a sudden tragic loss, it surprisingly says a lot about Anderson’s creative method, which also composes from historical and artistic artefacts an idealised image of a Camelot that will never be again, but which we admire with even greater melancholy. (27.01.2022)

I don’t think I have ever seen a movie that would be this strained and forced. I mean movies about American presidents do contain this type of boredom, but here it was emphasized by the terribly forced performance given by Natalie Portman, whom I really like under different circumstances. But in this one I couldn’t stand her at all. She was showing off in front of the camera and it seemed that she really really wanted to win an Oscar. She wanted it so hard that she couldn’t have been more annoying and less believable I guess. And on top of that, the greatest issue with the movie is that it’s actually about nothing at all. It does have its moments, but I think I could count those with the fingers of my hand. The rest is simply an absolutely worthless movie that is trying to speak to US citizens. I don’t think it makes any sense in Europe. (03.02.2017)