Jackie

First Hit:  It was a confusingly powerful portrayal of Jackie Kennedy during a most difficult time.

Confusing because my media biased view of Jackie consisted of a refined elegance and intelligence gained through a wealthy upbringing. This was challenged by the oddly phrased and pronounced speech along with the way she approached the challenges during this time. Although the assassination was an extremely traumatic event and the brief window this film uses to introduce us to Jackie is small, there was an oddity to the character that left me both confused and interestingly engaged.

Jackie (Natalie Portman) didn’t invent anything, didn't lead any social movements (non-profit or otherwise) and therefore her famousness comes from being a First Lady that revitalized the interior of The White House and that her popular husband was publicly assassinated in a short lived Presidency. The only visibility the public had of her was through the media. Glimpses of her as first lady, giving a tour of The White House, mother of Caroline and John, as a grieving widow, and dating and marrying Aristotle Onassis a Greek shipping tycoon. Regardless, the public had fascination about her and it is this attraction that probably led to this film.

This film’s timeframe is short. It begins with a post assassination interview by a journalist (Billy Crudup) as the vehicle for Jackie to share the truth as she saw it. To speak about the events of assassination, the funeral, and her time in The White House while hinting at Jack’s (John Fitzgerald Kennedy as played by Casper Phillipson) sexual indiscretions during their marriage. The film also interlays filmed sequences of her famous White House television tour, which gave many people their first look at the President’s famous home.

I enjoyed the way it was filmed in that the scenes were rich with the look of the early 1960s. Additionally, I liked the scenes of the tour. These scenes moved from the film’s richly colored set to the grainy and hazy black and white images that appeared on most television screens.

At times, I found Jackie to be very superficial by worrying so much about what something looked like and not caring so much about substance, to be followed by times where the complexities of her thinking came across as deep and intellectual, like the clarity of finding the right space to bury her husband. I never met her and because I only knew of her from the media, I’ve no way of knowing how closely Portman mimicked or embodied the role.

Her focus on making sure that Jack didn’t become just another “oil portrait on the wall” but that he stood for something was brought forth many times by her and Jack’s brother Bobby (Peter Sarsgaard). Supporting Jackie throughout the film was her assistant Nancy Tuckerman (Greta Gerwig), her closest confidant.

Although I wondered about the lack of tension and reasons why I was watching the film, I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next because there was an air of unpredictability in her voice and intention. As she states to a priest after the assassination, that her life was over and that she would spend the rest of her life waiting for it to be really over. This came across in the film and it was believable.

Portman was either amazing or created an odd characterization of this famous name. Again, I don’t know and given what I’ve seen and how Portman delivers performances, I’m going to say it was an amazing performance at an award-winning level. Crudup was interesting because his reactions to Jackie during the interview were, at times, priceless. An example was her telling the journalist that she doesn’t smoke as she lights up her 10th cigarette in a row was great. Sarsgaard was very good as Bobby. He was feisty and protective of his brother and what they were doing together, which matched my media understanding of him through the 1960s. Gerwig was very good. I loved her supportive actions including the visual reminders for Jackie to smile. Noah Oppenheim wrote a very strong script. Pablo Larrain’s direction was straightforward and no punches were pulled. The interspersed views of the assassination were excellent – especially the last one.

Overall:  This film isn’t for everyone and for people who have no connection to Jackie or didn’t live during her lifetime, it may not work

Lion

First Hit:  A very dramatic and heartfelt story about a young man finding his original home and family.

This was almost like watching two films, each with their own engagement. The first film is about a young Indian boy Saroo (Sunny Pawar) whose life of poverty is documented here by how he helps his mom Kamla (Priyanka Bose) carry rocks, or stealing coal from a train with his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), or by carrying watermelons for a town vendor. They live in a small one room place in a small-town many hundred miles west of Calcutta.

One night he gets separated from his brother, falls asleep on a train and wakes up in Calcutta. Lost without food or water and the inability to speak the main language of Calcutta, Bengali; he finds himself living on the street. A woman who speaks Hindi finds him and realizes that this boy has no idea where he is and that his family probably won’t find him. This engagement teaches him to trust his inner guide as she ends up not being as trustworthy as she appeared to be.

This part of the film has a particular flow and feeling of wonder and impoverishment, even when he’s adopted by John and Sue Brierley (David Wenham and Nicole Kidman respectively), a couple from Tasmania, Australia.

The second half of the film has Saroo (Dev Patel), now age twenty, being well ensconced in his life with his adoptive caring parents. He heads off to hotel management school where he meets Lucy (Rooney Mara). At a gathering of their mutual friends, he begins to share what he knows of his past after which he begins to have visions of his past life as a small boy in India.

This part of the film has a very different feeling. It’s a feeling of having questions, creating a quest, and finding answers. The wonder of young innocence is gone. It isn’t that this isn’t good, however it requires the audience to tie the two films together.

There are really wonderful scenes in both sections, but I found the scene with Saroo and Sue, when she tells him why she adopted him to be the most powerful. Kidman shows why she’s had such an amazing career. The impact of this scene was closely followed by the impact of a couple other scenes when the adult Saroo goes back to India to find his past.

Pawar was amazing as young Saroo. His wonder while holding his fear in check was amazing. Bose was really good as Saroo’s natural mother. Wenham was OK as Saroo’s adoptive father. I would have liked a stronger role for him as a male mentor. Kidman was amazing. The scene where she tells her story as to why she wanted to adopt Saroo was sublime. Patel as the older Saroo was very good and cements him as adult actor in a major role with the ability to carry a film. Mara was very good in this supportive role. Luke Davies wrote an effective screen play from the real Saroo Brierley book called “A Long Way Home”. Garth Davis did an excellent job of showing the communities in India in all it amazingness. Having traveled quite a bit on the trains of India, I really loved the scene in Calcutta when Saroo wanted off the train and throngs of riders were attempting to get on board.

Overall:  This was an engaging story although the two different sections of film require the audience to make the shift to stay engaged.

Miss Sloane

First Hit:  A very engaging and intense look at winner take all lobbying through a no-holds barred lobbyist.

I didn’t have any idea what kind of life or upbringing Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) had, but to witness her "win at any cost" actions made me wonder. As one of her bosses asked; “were you born this way?”

Notwithstanding, I bought Sloane’s character because all her actions supported it. Early on there’s a statement where she says something like; one must be fully prepared so that when your opponent plays their trump card, you play your trump card, trumping theirs.

One of the beginning sequences she’s asked by George Dupont (Sam Waterston), her high-powered boss at the large lobbyist firm she works in, to support the NRA in creating a program to get women to want to become gun owners to protect their family. They want this because the lobby wants the Brady gun law bill to be defeated in the Senate. Sloane balks, and when pressed by her boss to take the assignment, she quits and joins a small boutique firm run by Rodolfo Schmidt (Mark Strong) to lobby for the Brady bill and against her old firm. When she leaves this firm she takes most of her staff except her primary aid Jane Malloy (Alison Pill), who says she's thinking of getting out of the lobby business.

The film flashes ahead where she is being held for illegal lobbying practices in a hearing chaired by Congressman Ron M. Sperling (John Lithgow). In these flash ahead scenes, we get a sense of the pressure a congressional hearing might bring against someone.

Likewise, we see how hard she works to find out material that she can use to make her point, win the votes. In befriending Esme Manucharian (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), one of the people on her team, she sees Esme’s intelligence and commitment to this cause but also exposes her secret to the public.

Does she care? That is one of the film’s points. There are many different levels of caring and it doesn’t always look like what most people expect it to be. To this end, when she sacrifices herself to win her cause and not involve others, some of these questions are answered.

Chastain is this film. Her characters intensity, focus, and work effort to deliver on made promises is absolutely amazing. A tour de force performance. Mbatha-Raw is fantastic. The unfolding vulnerability she shows as her past is revealed is totally believable. Pill is perfect as Sloane’s work partner. Strong is really good as the head of a boutique lobbying firm. His support and questioning of Sloane’s tactics was spot-on. Lithgow as the Congressman who gets compromised was very good. His pushiness and superior attitude falling away to shock at being found out, was sublime. Waterston was very good as the head of a lobbying firm that just wants his business to grow. Jonathan Perera wrote a very interesting script. It was a fascinating look at the lobbying industry. John Madden clearly guided Chastain to take charge of the character and this movie. This was an excellent idea.

Overall:  I was transfixed by Chastain’s character, which required complete commitment to her goals.

Man Down

First Hit:  This film powerfully brings the point home about PTSD through one soldiers experience.

Writer Adam G. Simon and Director Dito Montiel effectively brings together the effects of war through one soldiers eyes by using three visual amalgamated stories.

It is important to note that every night there are 200,000 vets sleeping on the streets in the United States. And that there are 20 US veterans committing suicide every single day. This film sheds light on the cause.

Gabriel Drummer (Shia LeBeouf) and best lifelong buddy Devin Roberts (Jai Courtney) join the Marines together. They suffer and succeed together. Gabriel is married to Natalie (Kate Mara) and have a son Johnathan (Charlie Shotwell) who Gabriel loves dearly.

The film's stories are interesting and effective. But, until I connected the dots, about two-thirds the way through, the post war apocalyptic scenes didn’t work for me. I was initially frustrated and questioned these scenes, until the clarity came.

The interview scenes with Counselor Payton (Gary Oldman) were excellent. The use of this as a vehicle to share the knowledge that our government knows we have a problem and doesn't necessarily have the best tools to help soldiers was fantastic.

The scenes of the actual firefight were very strong in that they showed the bravery and risk soldiers take in a war such as the ones we fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. To have made a possible error with lives on the line is difficult to accept. To learn of a betrayal while overseas only compounded and added tinder to the raging bull within him.

LeBeouf was outstanding. To show the audience internal rage inside, while controlling the exterior of his face is a rare skill and here it was amazing. I felt the on-the-edge of bursting so much my heart ached. Courtney was excellent as his close friend. Having his back in war and in the apocalyptic world despite the betrayal, was perfect. Mara was wonderful in her role. The way she wanted and needed Gabriel to be there for her was palpable. Oldman was very good as the Marine counselor who worked on getting Gabriel to share his story and feelings. Shotwell was great as the young boy who loved and idolized his dad through it all. Simon wrote a very engaging and strong script. Using “Man Down” as the title and Gabriel and Johnathan’s code words – really worked for me as it expressed it all. Montiel had a great handle on this film. The lighting, sets, and sounds were very effective and he got powerful performances while telling a “need to hear” story.

Overall:  This film is haunting and important.

Elle

First Hit:  An excellent, detailed and complex study of a woman who has had a life filled with misfortune.

Michele Leblanc (Isabelle Huppert) is strong, independent and lives in a large home in Paris. Although there is a hint of compassion in her eyes, she is a coldish acting company owner that creates video games. There is a power struggle with one of her game developers but she’s supported by her assistant Anna (Anne Consigny) who is a longtime friend.

To develop Michele’s character, we witness her being raped and the filmmakers choose to show us this multiple times from slightly different perspectives in the first third of the film. She is having an affair. She supports her mom Irene (Judith Magre), who continues to have plastic surgery and courts young men to sleep with. Her son Vincent (Jonas Bloquet) is in a relationship with Josie (Alice Isaaz), a woman she doesn’t approve of because this girl is somewhat abusive of her son.

There are other things going on in her life, but it is the slow unfolding about her childhood and reason her father is in jail that provides context to her direct coolness in dealing with the people in her life.

As the film winds towards its end, Michele learns more about herself and the deep-rooted feelings residing within while beginning to change what needs to be changed.

The reuse of the rape scene, although difficult to watch, was effective because each time she (and we the audience) learns something about herself. It was a risky film making move and it worked. The work environment felt current in that the way the staff interacted. Each scene in this film had a place and a reason although, at times when the scene played out, it seemed over done or misplaced.

Huppert was excellent in this role. Her intelligence, beauty, and clarity in this role came through powerfully. She was the film. Cosingy was very good as Michele’s best friend and work partner. Magre was funny and excellent as the woman who wanted to defy what happened to her family. Bloquet was interesting as the son that was ruled by his mom and wanted to begin to define his own territory. Laurent Lafitte was really good as the neighbor who had things to hide. Isaaz was perfect as the on-edge girlfriend with a power chip on her shoulder. David Birke wrote a complex screenplay that was effectively film and directed by Paul Verhoeven.

Overall:  This was a complex film as reflected by the complex character.