A bold new take on a biopic that's messy but memorable

Rating: 8/10 (10 March 2018)

Biopics tend to have a fair amount of decorum, or at least a sort of sanctity for the people whose lives they're based on and the truth of their stories. "I, Tonya" throws all that traditional methodology out the window, using a faux-documentary, fourth wall-breaking approach that highlights the conflicting accounts and lack of certainty over what happened in the famous scandal surrounding the assault on Nancy Kerrigan.
Films based on true stories always take liberties, but Steven Rogers's script swims in them, purposefully. Why must Rogers condense the differing perspectives of Harding (Margot Robbie), her "ex"-husband Jeff (Sebastian Stan), her mother LaVona (Allison Janney), her coach (Julianne Nicholson) and others into one narrative and present that as one complete truth? Instead, Rogers liberates the story and himself and celebrates the way all the pieces don't come together all that cleanly. In the process, under the direction of Craig Gillespie, the film too develops its own unfiltered point of view.
Presenting Harding's story in this way necessitates an overtly tongue-in-cheek tone, one that sometimes threatens to undermine the moments when the film shows artistic ambition. Beautiful skating sequences are often book-ended with brash comedic moments, or dramatic conflicts qualified or punctuated by the characters in after-the-fact interviews. It's a wild ride through moments of unbridled humor, sports drama, verbal and physical abuse, and characters acting with unbelievable stupidity.
Robbie's performance becomes all the more impressive when you consider all the forces at work in this story attempting to paint Harding one way or another. Rogers, for example offers us plenty of reasons to sympathize with her and explain some of her rash behavior from a psychological standpoint. It doesn't feel as though he's trying to exonerate her, especially because he tries to make it clear that some of what we are seeing play out in the film comes from her perspective, but he's trying to show both her humanity and her personality, which point in opposite directions in many instances.
Perhaps the boldest choice in "I, Tonya" is its indictment of the audience for being complicit in the dismantling of Harding's reputation and the general way that we hold celebrities to a higher standard because they appear privileged, gifted and in the public spotlight. By bringing her challenging home life and abusive relationships into the picture, Rogers asserts that Harding actually rose above her station to even compete at such a high level in professional figure skating. She was clearly not desired in that world in all the superficial ways, and had to rise purely on skill (chiefly, her ability to perform a triple axel).
"I, Tonya" definitely succeeds at creating memorable moments, as well as bringing perspective and insight to Harding's story. It would be difficult to leave the film without feeling as though you learned a lot about what was a seemingly straightforward news scandal, but it would also be hard to come away with the impression that you know the full story.
Despite sometimes getting a little too flashy or too in your face, "I, Tonya" makes it a lot farther than most other stylistic, comedy-tinged movies based on true stories thanks to clever writing, committed performances and a distinct point of view.
~Steven C
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