Directed by:
Craig GillespieScreenplay:
Steven RogersCinematography:
Nicolas KarakatsanisComposer:
Peter NashelCast:
Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Cannavale, Mckenna Grace, Bojana Novakovic, Caitlin Carver (more)VOD (1)
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A darkly comedic tale of American figure skater, Tonya Harding, and one of the most sensational scandals in sports history. Though Harding was the first American woman to complete a triple axel in competition, her legacy was forever defined by her association with an infamous, ill-conceived, and even more poorly executed attack on fellow Olympic competitor Nancy Kerrigan. (Roadshow Entertainment)
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Reviews (11)
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%.
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This biographical character study featuring well-developed characters is interesting due to the
contrast between the protagonist’s redneck nature and the refined world of figure skating, which is
everything for her. The world from which she came and the crowd that surrounds her (and that she
has chosen for herself) produce drama worthy of a genre movie, event though no lives are put in
danger. Great actors, engaging athletic performances.
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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.
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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%]
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Quite an interesting story of Tonya Harding, and the only reason I watched the film is because I like sports dramas where the underdog kicks everyone’s asses. The opening met my expectations and I wanted to praise the excellent Tilda Swinton as the mother, but now I realise it was actually Allison Janney, well never mind she was perfect and to remove her after half an hour is a reprehensible mistake. That's like someone removing J.K. Simmons from Whiplash, without him the film definitely wouldn't have gotten the recognition it has now. As for Tonya herself, unfortunately there's not much skating, the rivalry is mostly nonexistent and she performs the same tricks over and over. The film focuses more on her personal life and her relationship with her husband, which at times was reminiscent of The War of the Roses, but I wasn't really interested in that. Pros: Margot Robbie and Allison Janney both solid, an interesting story. Cons: slow pace, humour only in the first 30 minutes then absent, lack of skating and o an intense finale like in Borg vs. McEnroe, for example. 6/10.
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