I, Tonya

I didn't think I was going to be that entertained by this film, but given the way it is shot and the performances in particular (Margot Robbie and the incredibly exuberant Allison Janney, not to mention little McKenna, who shines everywhere, even if only for a moment in this film), I had to smile and just enjoy myself the entire time, also because of how interestingly the film is shot. (2018-01-24)

As excellent as the performances are, the true star of the film is Gillespie, the director, who managed put together a boisterous story with motivations that cannot be fully understood and where you don’t really have anyone to root for due to the moral ugliness of all the characters, and he did it in such an energetic and coherent way, comparable to Martin Scorsese at his best. I can’t remember any other film where I enjoyed so much the retrospective structure supplemented by the narration of the participants, all complemented with “Soderbergh-like” breaks in the shape of the remarkable soundtrack, on which the staging of many scenes depends, or the sudden time jumps for the sake of more striking twists. Under this barrage of great ideas and interesting (though awful) characters, it almost doesn’t matter than the runtime could have been shorter and the secondary plots better resolved. A welcome breath of fresh air to the stereotypic Academy shelves, it’s a pity that Margot didn’t get there, too. (2019-02-27)

Perhaps the best film of 2017, simply AMAZING in every way. The life story of Harding was worth making into a film, and finally, someone took it on. A wide range of critics and reviewers compare the film to Goodfellas, and I think I understand why. It has an excellent yet original storytelling approach, with the main trio of actors competing in impressive performances, and the story is captivating and, importantly, funny (though it's not entirely humorous given the ruined knee, but if they had taken it seriously, it would have ended catastrophically). I don't even know where to start. Surprisingly, Sebastian Stan impressed me the most, playing the crazy madman with real brilliance (hello, where's his nomination for supporting role? The academicians missed that one). Robbie is properly convincing, and Allison Janney's portrayal of her mother has definitely paved a path to the Oscars with her precise performance. I also appreciate the powerful soundtrack that greatly benefited the film. It's hard to say whether her real punishment was justified or somewhat excessive. They probably wanted to set an example that athletes shouldn’t behave this way (even though she likely didn’t know a physical attack was being planned against her colleague). If the film had strayed from historical context and the real story, everyone might think it couldn’t happen, but it did indeed happen. As that entertaining journalist with flawless interjections said: "THEY HIRED THE TWO BIGGEST IDIOTS IN A STORY FULL OF IDIOTS." That is the most accurate depiction of everything we witnessed in the film. More films like this, please. I give it 91%. (2018-08-10)

Every year you think there cannot be another Olympic story you don’t know yet and still the creators always dig up something new. However, the figure skater Tonya Harding did not have a life story that one should brag about. On the other hand, it is so unbelievable that it would be a shame if we didn’t learn more about it. The film was lucky as it got creators who filmed it truly authentically. For example, you will not recognize Margot Robbie at all. She turned from a pretty actress into an American small-town bitch who loves figure skating and everything else bothers her. The fact that her husband beats her here and there won’t stop her from being famous one day, right? However, the human stupidity can stop her, and I have to say that I wouldn’t be able to invent a more interesting story of an Olympic athlete. The second half of the movie was truly unbelievable. I was just bating my breath while watching how far a person can go. (2018-01-20)

Far more interesting than the figure skating itself here is the portrayal of Tonya's struggle with public opinion and her pathetic effort to improve her visual self-presentation on the ice. Whereas her toxic yet rather ambiguous relationship with both her mother and her own husband is a chapter unto itself. It can't go without notice that Margot Robbie has notably porked up and "gotten ugly" for this role so her performance as an American hillbilly can be properly authentic. When you think of Margot Robbie in any other film, the contrast between her usual beauty and the unattractiveness she has here is almost adorable. Craig Gillespie has an exquisite flair for engagingly portraying key scenes, which is already evident in the opening on the ice, when a fuming mother in the middle of the rink pushes her four-year-old daughter "to teach her a lesson". The fact that the individual characters are portrayed rather contradictorily, and that you’re rooting for the film itself rather than the protagonist, moves the whole narrative into uncharted waters as far as autobiographical adaptations are concerned. [85%] (2022-04-18)