Grade: B+
Director Craig Gillespie’s film I, Tonya plays like a feature-length trailer. No scene seems to last very long, and it pretty much never settles down and takes time to become like a normal movie. It frequently cuts to footage of present-day interviews with a few main players, and actors often stop, break the fourth wall, look straight at the camera, and provide narration in the middle of a scene. This unusual narrative technique was also used in The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short. It is easier to get used to than you might think.
I, Tonya, of course, is about the infamous figure skater Tonya Harding, whose career essentially ended due to her presumed involvement in the attack on rival skater Nancy Kerrigan in 1994. I remember when this happened, and my 12-going-on-13-year-old self at the time just assumed Harding clubbed Kerrigan’s kneecap herself. The movie hilariously lampoons this common misconception in a cutaway shot, where we see Tonya repeatedly wailing on Nancy’s knee before her blood-soaked face looks up and devilishly smiles at the camera.
I, Tonya reminded me of the kind of thing Wes Anderson would do, before he became too gimmicky – when I still enjoyed his stuff. “The incident,” as it’s called, doesn’t take up all the air-time. We are taken through much of Harding’s life before, and a little bit after. She is beaten (both literally and figuratively) and perpetually angry. In fact, she seems to perform her best when she’s upset. Her mother knows this, and gives her negative reinforcement to get her mad enough to go out there and be great. Margot Robbie and Allison Janney are the two Oscar-nominated performances here. I don’t know how much skating Robbie as Tonya is actually doing vs. what is a stunt or camera trickery, but it looks seamless, and either way, her whole performance here is awesome. Ditto for the even-more awesome Allison Janney as the caustic, chain-smoking, coffee-spiking mother, who will probably garner a well-deserved Academy Award on March 4. Also, I was delighted to learn that so many Atlanta actors are in this. I caught Daniel May and Dan Triandiflou, but disappointingly, the others (Brandon O’Dell, Cara Mantella) I looked very hard for but didn’t see. Maybe I blinked too much.
This is not for those with sensitive ears. It will be difficult for them to find dialogue that’s suitable for TV to use as Oscar clips. I read that this was one of the few things the real Tonya Harding thought the movie got wrong. She claims that she hardly ever cusses. The song selection throughout is amazing. This is my favorite soundtrack of the year – other than, of course, The Greatest Showman. I, Tonya is quirky, fun, and a darn cool movie that resonated with me a surprising amount when it was over.
Grade: B+
Film Reviews by Mark 
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