I, Tonya (2017, R)

This is the last Oscar film that I saw prior to the nominations coming out, and honestly, it’s one of my favorites so far.  Just a really well-put-together story about a bit of history that I only knew the bare bones about, with great acting and a really engaging style.  I would’ve like to have seen it recognized for more than its two acting nominations.

Tonya Harding, propelled by her ambitious grit and further spurred by her abusive mother, devotes her life to figure skating greatness.  Although she achieves historic firsts for women in the sport, Tonya feels she’s continually ranked below her worth at competitions – she has the talent, but not the looks or wholesome background that the judges are looking for.  The media fosters a “white trash” vs. “America’s sweetheart” dynamic between her and Nancy Kerrigan, and as Tonya works toward her Olympic dreams, her ex-husband begins to concoct a plan to give her a leg up on the competition.

First off, I love the way the film is set up.  It’s not done full mockumentary style, but the action is interspersed with numerous characters speaking directly to the camera in response to interview questions that we mostly don’t see.  At times, they contradict one another, as well as what we see onscreen, and there are even a couple instances of a character breaking the fourth wall in the middle of a scene to say, “That never happened.”  This signals to the audience throughout that our narrators are unreliable and we can’t necessarily trust what we’re seeing/hearing, which allows the film to sell its take on the “incident” with Nancy Kerrigan (basically, who know what and when) without claiming that its version is gospel.  It’s almost a bit Tom Stoppard-esque in the way it undermines its veracity to keep you cognizant of the fact that we don’t know for sure exactly how it went down.

There’s a lot to like in this movie.  The narrative is snappy and darkly funny, and the film has a talent for knowing when to let its heavy subject matter get serious and when to treat it with an ironic wink.  I really like the themes the movie explores, especially the class and image issues that thwart Tonya in competitions and during the media frenzy after the “incident” that, in her mind, cast her as the villain people need.  As far as the story and structure go, my only quibble is that the film starts to drag a little post-incident.  It just takes a while to get things wrapped up and doesn’t feel as tight as the movie had up till that point.

The acting is uniformly excellent.  As Tonya and her mother LaVona, Margot Robbie and Allison Janney earn their Oscar nominations and then some.  Robbie is an electric lead, by turns brash and combative and vulnerable, and Janney is compelling to watch, especially when LaVona and Tonya are alone onscreen together.  I also want to single out Sebastian Stan, who does terrific work as Tonya’s ex-husband Jeff.  It’s the first time I’ve seen Stan play a character with such a distinct voice and mannerisms, and he sells it for me, along with helping me understand the complex nature of Jeff and Tonya’s fraught relationship.

Warnings

Swearing, violence, sexual content, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements (including abuse.)