Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

Nocturnal Animals

Tom Ford’s haunting drama tells two parallel stories, one is that of an art gallery director (Amy Adams) who must come to terms with the growing distance between her and her husband (Armie Hammer), the mistakes she made with her ex-husband (Jake Gyllenhaal), and the financial instability of her home life.

This is contrasted with her ex-husband’s novel about a family harassed on a dark, deserted highway that leads to murder and self-recrimination. In Adams’ vivid re-enactments of what she’s reading, the husband and father is played by Gyllenhaal while the investigator who’s trying to help him bring the men who attacked his family to justice is played by Michael Shannon.

The superb cast is aided by Ford’s strong narrative construction full of parallel meaning. The imagery is stunning, aided by Ford’s masterful eye for color, balance, and structure. Backed by a gorgeous musical score, Nocturnal Animals is frightening in its intensity. That the novel at the heart of the film is terrifyingly realistic gives support to the somewhat more embellished primary storyline.

Jackie

We’ve seen the story of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in numerous films over the years. We’ve never seen a portrait of Jackie Kennedy or the turmoil of her life in those fateful moments just before and after the tragedy.

Pablo Larrain’s film starring Natalie Portman as the titular First Lady is a dense, contemplative saga that gives Jackie a loving, respectful, and stark exploration. Portman is utterly magnificent, capturing the cadence and body language of Mrs. Kennedy with near perfection.

With strong production values, a marvelous score, and a lead performance as riveting as this, Jackie is a movie of such passion and poignancy that the audience will easily feel transported back in time in order to share in the grief, anger, and relevance of the death of an era in history long expired.