It is, however, Robbie’s strong performance that took much of the limelight in the film (and this award season).
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Everyone needs some person to love and hate. It has been witnessed countless times how the world and society at large have celebrated a hero’s victory, cried for a victim’s trauma, and jeered at a villain’s bad deeds. Many do not realise how much people’s reaction to an individual contributes towards one’s success or downfall.
This was well observed in Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya – dramatically based on a true story of figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie). Like how the film title suggests, the narrative focuses on Harding and her loved ones where ice-skating is a sport that she happens to be good at. This may also be an intended attempt to distinguish the person from the sport for some form of objectivity.
On the contrary to the elegance and gracefulness that are typically associated with ice-skating, I, Tonya is anything but. The visceral lifestyle that Harding is seen leading in the film would draw sympathy for the character. From an abusive mother and husband, whose acts appear to be justified by some misconceived gauge of underlying love, Harding is portrayed as a victim of an imperfect American family that made her who she is.
There are however moments where Harding repeatedly mentions how everything cannot be her fault. There are fake documentary footages of a present-tense Harding addressing the camera that everyone contributed towards shaping who (or what) she is. There’s a lot of bemusing content to behold, but also some sharp truth to what she says occasionally.
Uncertain if Gillespie is trying to show another side to Harding or another side to the general public’s reaction to ‘the incident’ where she was (in)famously involved in the assault of fellow American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in 1994. About a third of the film dwells into the incident and how her loved ones circumstantially contributed to the unfortunate incident.
There is much to see in Harding’s husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) and especially mother LaVona Golden (Allison Janney) who both made the film so much more for the audience. It is, however, Robbie’s strong performance that took much of the limelight in the film (and this award season).
Some would dash straight to perform fact checks and argue that the truth is far from the film. The joke is on the characters’ contradiction picked up from their interviews, such as that of Gillooly’s friend Shawn (Paul Walter Hauser) who fantasised his alter-ego as a counter-terrorism expert and employee of espionage. If one is able to look beyond the film material, it may be opined that Gillespie is trying to reveal certain perspectives that some may have overlooked.
Besides Gillespie’s direction and the amazing performance by Robbie and Janney, the film has great technical excellence worth mentioning. Strong language aside, the original screenplay based on actual life events by Steven Rogers provides the characters much to explore on the silver screen. Tatiana S. Riegel’s editing prowess also enabled smooth transitions between humour and hell modes.
I, Tonya is as an exemplary film production that should be appreciated beyond its face value as it tries to shed light on perspectives rather than insinuating the actual truth.
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