I, Tonya

Rating: 6/10 (5 March 2018)

I found out about the real-life story being put onscreen from Big Fat Quiz of the 90s, it sounded a perfect plot for a movie, and then of course there was its inclusion during Awards Season, so I looked forward to it, directed by Craig Gillespie (Mr. Woodcock, Fright Night). Basically in 1970s Portland, Oregon, four-year-old Tonya Harding (Maizie Smith) is driven to ice skate by her abusive mother LaVona (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe winning Allison Janney). As Tonya grows up, her mother takes her out of school to focus on a career in skating, she trains extensively with coach Diane Rawlinson (Julianne Nicholson). Tonya quickly becomes one of the best figure skaters in the United States, but she cannot shake off her "white trash" reputation or move beyond homemade costumes and unconventional choices of performance music. At 15, Tonya (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Margot Robbie, also producing) starts dating 18-year-old Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), despite the disapproval of her mother. Tonya is able to move out of her mother's home and escape her physical abuse when she and Jeff are married, but soon after Jeff starts physically abusing her as well. LaVona scorns Tonya for putting up with it, but Tonya blames her mother for raising her in an abusive environment. Meanwhile, in competition, Tonya becomes the first American female figure skater to complete two triple axel jumps. Tonya has a dispute with Diane, she fires her and hires new coach Dody Teachman (Bojana Novakovic) for the 1992 Winter Olympics. However, Tonya fails to stick to her landings and comes fourth, she blames loose ice skate blades. Defeated, she decides to return to Oregon, finding a job as a waitress, but then Diane convinces her to return to compete in the Winter Olympics 1994. Tonya decides to visit her estranged mother, who criticises her for having put a lot of her money into Tonya's skating lessons, she says that she "made her a champion." During her training sessions, Tonya is disrupted, receiving death threats, her main rival is Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver), Jeff retaliates to the threats, instructing his friend Shawn Eckhardt (Paul Walter Hauser) to send threats to her. However, Eckhardt wants the notoriety and prestige, so he hires two crooks to attack Kerrigan after a practise session in Detroit, one of them, Shane Stant (Ricky Russert), hits her legs with a police baton. Kerrigan's legs are not broken, but she has suffered a bad knee injury, soon enough both assailants are found and arrested, and Eckhart bragging around town leads the FBI to finding and arresting him. Eckhart points the finger at Jeff, who is horrified by his involvement of the death threats, meanwhile, despite the allegations that she was involved in Kerrigan's attack, Tonya qualifies for the Olympic team. Tonya realises however that she will be found guilty of her association in the attack, she goes to the FBI to tell what Jeff and Shawn did, Jeff is shown her written testimony. In anger he races to her house to attack her, after this Tonya leaves Jeff for good, filing for divorce, while he implicates her to the authorities, claiming that she knew about the attack on Kerrigan. At the Winter Olympics, Tonya comes in eighth place, while Kerrigan is able to compete, and wins the silver medal. Back in Portland, Tonya is surrounded by media, LaVona visits her and gives her some kind words; she finally tells her she is proud of her and that she is on her side, but Tonya realises she is wearing a recording device, when she asks her about her knowledge of the attack, she ejects her from her home. Jeff, Eckhardt and Stant are all sentenced, while Tonya's trial is postponed until after the Winter Olympics, Tonya avoids prison, but is given three years probation, 500 hours of community service, and a $100,000 fine. Tonya is heartbroken when she is forced to withdraw from the 1994 World Figure Skating Championships and is banned from competitive figure skating for life. She begs the judge to send her to jail rather than take away the one thing she knows how to do; the judge declines. Jeff acknowledges that he ruined Tonya's career, changes his name and remarries, while Tonya embraces her notoriety and becomes a professional boxer. Also starring Bobby Cannavale as Martin Maddox, Dan Triandiflou as Bob Rawlinson and Alphie Hyorth as Judge Londer. Robbie really captures the rough edges and emotions of the real Harding, but Janney that gives the award-worthy performance as the abusive mother, she steals all scenes she is in. It is a very interesting scandal that I had read about, and the domestic story is also interesting, this movie has a good twist on how to do a biopic, with characters breaking the fourth, it is both funny and dramatic, while the CGI-assisted technical skating sequences are reasonable, it is a most watchable biographical black comedy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Film Editing, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Make Up/Hair, Best Original Screenplay and Best Costume Design, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Good!