'Jackie' is a beautiful portrait of a formidable first lady

Last year I praised the under-seen Danny Boyle film Steve Jobs for revitalizing a genre that had become tiresome and predictable -- the biopic -- and now the new film Jackie builds on that film's promise, by presenting a gorgeous pastiche centered on former first lady and cultural icon Jackie Kennedy.

This was a film that could have been crude and exploitative -- it takes place largely in the immediate aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination -- but instead of dwelling on the more morbid aspects of that tragedy, the movie is more of a tribute to a powerful woman's resolve and intuition.

This knockout of a movie has already got me wanting to revise my top 10 list for 2016, and it has also restored my faith in potential of Natalie Portman, as actress who can be mercurial with her choices from time to time, but I can't think of anyone better suited for this film and role.

With Black Swan I thought she was reaching a new peak of performance, allowing her pristine facade to bend and break in new and exciting ways. But then, inexplicably she opted for paycheck roles in movies like Friends With Benefits and Thor, and her tendency to deliver wooden work (as evidenced by the Star Wars prequels) threatened to undermine some of the good will she'd started to engender, even from skeptics.

I am happy to see her back in fighting form in Jackie, a high wire act that requires incredible poise, vocal control and intensely emotional heavy lifting. Part of the reason this film succeeds is that it avoids so many pitfalls it could have easily stumbled into (and that other recent films about the Cold War era, *cough* J. Edgar *cough*, have).

Instead of camp and cliche, we get a very raw, believable portrayal of Jackie Kennedy. I am not sure how accurate the film is, and I don't really care. As pure storytelling, this movie is assured -- at its best moments it conjures up memories of a Terrence Malick tone poem. My only quibble is a framing device of a print interview that smacks of a more traditional movie.

But on the whole this is a viscerally satisfying movie and a thought-provoking one. Not since Oliver Stone's much more histrionic (and yet, still genius in my mind) JFK, has a film better captured the promise and the disappointment inherent in the Kennedy mystique.

And the film also is slyly feminist and liberating for the former first lady, who comes across as far more flinty and astute behind closed doors than the public perhaps ever gave her credit for.

Without a doubt, this is a real comeback for Natalie Portman, who almost certainly will be in the Best Actress race this year. And I think after watching it, I will never view the Kennedys or Jackie the same way again.