“I, Tonya” is a juggling act.
With so many seemingly unrelated themes flying through the air, it is a miracle that the movie doesn’t come crashing down like a figure skater falling to the ice. However, despite all odds, “I, Tonya” is a story told through weaving perspectives and recollections, finally giving the American people, and a new generation, the true story of what happened in January 1994.
Detailing the infamous, and many times misrepresented, story of Tonya Harding, “I, Tonya” is told through the perspective of not just our main character but the people in her life who contributed to her highly publicized fall from stardom. Upon viewing, it’s hard at first to establish how exactly writer Steven Rogers and director Craig Gillespie have chosen to tell this story. In one scene, a character will be giving a “60 Minutes”-style interview in present day, and the next, the characters will break the fourth wall to address the audience mid-scene. It is a storytelling medium all of its own and lends to the movie’s eclectic, too-crazy-to-be-true tone, but it manages to work somehow.
This movie shows Harding as a victim of the people around her, who are, frankly, idiots. Despite the baffling true-life comedy of her co-stars, Margot Robbie pulls every ounce of sympathy out of the audience with her performance, creating the careful balance of both laughter and heartbreak that is the essence of “I, Tonya.” At many times, the movie stumbles and the audience members finds themselves laughing at the characters instead of laughing at the absurdity of their actions and situations. In fact, the characters of “I, Tonya” are so real you could point to one on screen and say, “Hey, I knew a guy just like that in high school.” But the movie’s message, in the end, delivers – like a kick in the gut – and makes the audience realize the emotional and physical damage Harding went through her entire life.
The true star of the movie, although Robbie’s work is brilliant, is Allison Janney. Playing Harding’s mother, LaVona, Janney is laugh-out-loud funny (the first time she is shown on screen, she wears a massive fur coat, breathing tubes stuck in her nose and a green bird sits on her left shoulder) yet manages to evoke raw anger and loathing from the audience. LaVona is the main catalyst to Tonya’s failure, yet she claims her hatred and abuse was what made Tonya a star. She is the ultimate mother from Hell, and she’ll claim that title between rips of a cigarette.
Underneath the surface, “I, Tonya” is a story about the difference between image and reality. Tonya is shamed the entire movie, by both her skating coaches and competition judges, for not coming from a perfect, wealthy “all-American” family. Yet, Tonya is so full of raw talent, relentless power and stubborn determination, she doesn’t let up. In fact, her desire for the world to love her and give her a chance leads her to make decisions that would cost her the future of her entire career. It’s this innate human emotion that sells the premise of “I, Tonya” so well. Every person on this planet can relate to Tonya, who just wants to be loved, and Robbie sells it every time she is on screen.
“I, Tonya,” in the end, manages to fly through the air, almost like Harding at the top of her game, and lands perfectly. It is a must-see this season and will be highly decorated at this year’s Oscars.
