I, Tonya is about the life of world class figure skater Tonya Harding, played by Margot Robbie, and her life before and during her rise to fame and, as some of you older folk may remember, her debatable involvement with the Nancy Kerrigan incident. The movie is told through different points of view in an "interview" format with Tonya's and her ex-husband Jeff's story being the dominant narratives. It switches off between the two with quite a few scenes from Tonya's mother LaVona Harding's point of view. Its her retelling her life the way she remembers it despite it conflicting with some of the other characters narrative. Her marriage was filled with abuse from her husband, Jeff, who is played by Sebastian Stan, and her mother, played by Allison Janney, who never exactly showed any sign of affection towards her during her childhood. Tonya dropped out of school to pursue skating and the story goes on from there.
Now, this sounds like it would be a really depressing movie with such topics and situations as those I've described, but Craig Gillespie, the director, was able to take this dark story and bring out the humor in it. This movie is what one would call a dark comedy. For example, American Beauty was considered a dark comedy because of its themes of outcast and scandalous marriage, but sustained a comedic tone to its story. I, Tonya is similar in its portrayals of domestic violence and child abuse and how those things shaped the assertive character of Tonya while also sustaining an immense level of comedy. With the comedy, however, came style. This movie is a mix between American Hustle and Rocky in that the film is backed by a fantastic 70's/80's themed soundtrack with corresponding settings and great costume design while also still being primarily a sports movie that contains concepts of poverty and family problems.
Despite my athletic related comparisons with Rocky, the movie never really shows the actual "training" part of her life while she's getting ready for the Olympics. It puts more focus on her home life and her relationship with her husband and her mother LaVona and the conflict that arises from these relationships. This is what sets the movie apart from traditional underdog narrative: the focus on Tonya's general life and relationships and Jeff's devious schemes. We only get a couple of training scenes, but the actual skating scenes are what contribute to the style of this movie. The competition scenes are beautifully shot and contribute to the traditional sports movie "underdog" narrative. It also focuses on Jeff's plan to sabotage other skaters in order to prove his love for Tonya which, as we all know, went awry and exploded into this huge scandal, forcing the FBI to ban her from skating ever again. If you think I'm spoiling the movie, I'm not. Just look it up or ask some older folk and they'll give you their take on the events since it was the biggest news at the time.
As for the performances, Robbie, Stan, and Janney all give fantastic performances with Janney being my personal favorite. Her recent Golden Globe victory for her portrayal of LaVona Harding was well deserved. Overall, I Tonya, is a fantastic, 80's stylistic movie with great performances and good directing and writing. Its a fantastic retelling of events that, at its core, is a comedic story about betrayal, innocence, and what fame will drive a person to do. 9.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment