One of the Best Movies of 2017

Rating: 9/10 (10 January 2018)

I'm mad at this movie. No sooner have I just finished writing my "Best Movies of 2017" list, this film skates up to my doorstep and effortlessly wedges itself on my list of favorites. No sooner do I write off Margot Robbie as just a face for making the forgettable Legend of Tarzan (2016) and (gag) Suicide Squad (2016), she turns in this absolutely masterful performance. No sooner do I write off director Craig Gillespie for being a hack Disney hired-hand forced to make Driving Miss Daisy (1989)-level cheese, he comes up with this uniquely dark and comic masterpiece. It's not my fault I didn't catch I, Tonya before the New Year. I blame the distribution!
The story of competitive ice skater and sensational-media pariah Tonya Harding does have a lot of blame to go around. Harding, her abusive ex-husband Jeff Gillooly, her dimwitted bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt, her mother LaVona Golden, the media, the Ice Skating Association and even you, yes you, all have a part to play in what Tonya refers to as "the incident". The running stitch the holds this dysfunctional collage together may surprise you but at the same time feels perfectly reasonable, tragic and despite this film being set in the early nineties, altogether timely.
Assuming you're under 25 and don't have the 90's Trivial Pursuit Time Capsule Edition, the story of Tonya Harding and her involvement in a vicious attack perpetrated on rival Nancy Kerrigan was very much the news story of the season. At the time, the exceptional ice skater became a punchline for the media and especially for late night comedians such as David Letterman. It certainly didn't help that her humble origins set against Nancy Kerrigan's prim and perfect media persona, aided in making her the biggest sports villain since the Soviet 1980 Hockey Olympic team.
What was never shown before, during or after the hoopla was Harding's battle with abuse. The film portrays the 20-year-old Harding (Robbie) coming to skating practice; makeup barely covering up bruises made by her husband Jeff (Stan) the night before. Before even meeting Jeff, the film portrays her home life with LaVona (Janney) as just as tumultuous; LaVona making it a point to destroy her confidence nearly every chance she gets. The film also portrays Harding's wings constantly being clipped by judging committees who see her homemade outfits and attitude on and off the ice as an affront to the sports' image.
I keep saying "the film portrays" because director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Steven Rogers make it a point to state that I, Tonya is not an official account, but rather a Rashomon (1950) cobbled from different sources. Peppered in-between the unruly narrative are a host of mock-interviews where all the characters involved are given a chance to "set the record straight". This is despite the movie often juxtaposing what they say with beautiful levels of Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) irony. It's a ridiculous approach to a ridiculous story and it's pulled off with the same bullish grace as Nicolas Karakatsanis's cinematography and Margot Robbie's ice skating. Thus what we see in I, Tonya is a total marriage of pacing and tone, humor and depth, glee and sadness that gainfully tells a story you only think you knew.
There are some problems, largely stemming from the film's third act inclusion of what's essentially extra credit. It intones that due to our own addiction with sensationalist media, we as an audience are complicit in Harding's hardships. While I agree with the sentiment and the film does weave this new tangent into the fabric of the narrative, it does seem to come a little late to the party. Additionally while Robbie completely owns the role as Tonya, the twenty-seven-year-old actress playing her at fifteen looks a little...off.
Regardless, I, Tonya is a wonder of a movie. It's a slick, funny, wild and sad little showcase about wholly unlikeable characters who manage to simultaneously be sympathetic without necessarily being deserving of your sympathy. With documentarians are mining 90's tabloid journalism to create layered, hard-hitting features like Casting JonBenet (2017) and O.J.: Made in America; it's nice to see a movie go a completely different way without sacrificing perspective. Here's to hoping the soon-to-be-made Lorena Bobbit story also rises to the occasion.