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I, Tonya Movie Review

I, Tonya is a 2017 biographical dramedy film directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney. It’s such a terrific movie.

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“I was loved for a minute,

then I was hated.

Then I was just a punch line“

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It follows the life of figure skater Tonya Harding and particularly focuses on the Nancy Kerrigan incident while portraying the series of domestic abuse that she had to go through. The film obviously makes her more sympathetic but that wasn’t a problem for me as she is the protagonist. The film is perfect in my opinion as it still portrays her as a very unlikable, redneck woman, but it shows us how she came to be that way.

I, Tonya is a superb movie above all else thanks to its amazing approach. This is no ‘Darkest Hour’. This is an original, inventive and incredibly entertaining biopic that is thus shamefully snubbed for an Oscar. The movie flies by how fun it is while making the right choice to be heartbreaking at just the right times, serious as well and most importantly very funny. It is a mix of affecting drama and hilarious comedy and it worked at both fronts.

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So Tonya Harding is phenomenally portrayed and developed. You dislike her at times, but still you come to care for her and the ending was definitely very tragic and it made me sympathize with her as her punishment was too harsh. They perfectly portrayed how broken and terrible a person can become after years of domestic abuse.

Her mother is naturally the cartoon villain here – over-the-top and aggressive. But it works because there are abusive parents like her in the real world and this one was very well depicted and also very funny at times. The use of black humor is terrific in the film.

Jeff is also very complex and in the end becomes very unlikable just as Tonya is. He is also very well developed and portrayed. I really liked her skating teacher as she is such a lovely person. And of course the two idiots who were involved in the incident and especially Shawn are hilarious and they brought a lot of humor to the third act.

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The film is stupendously acted across the board. Sebastian Stan is actually very good and underrated in the role of Jeff and he was believable from start to finish. His performance is surely very underappreciated. But of course the highlights are the ladies. Margot Robbie was very well cast and she excelled in the role of Harding. She was funny and heartbreaking while portraying emotion particularly well. Allison Janney deserved all of the accolades that she got owing to her powerhouse turn in a very unlikable, villainous role. She was consistently interesting or funny and she stole every scene she was in.

I, Tonya is somewhat slow in some of the third act scenes and it focused too much on Jeff in the third act as Tonya appeared way too sparsely. And I also had a problem with such a small screen time of Nancy Kerrigan. She is an important character here and she needed to appear much more in the film.

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Technically speaking, the film is also fantastic. The editing is probably the best of the entire year as it flows so well and almost never felt rushed despite being so fast paced. It is brisk and consistently involving. The direction is also terrific as is the film’s very unique spinning cinematography which not only accompanied the figure skating scenes so well, but also the regular dramatic scenes. The use of close-ups, its mockumentary approach as well as breaking the fourth wall is particularly inspired.

I, Tonya is everything ‘Darkest Hour’ isn’t and thus it was shamefully snubbed by the Academy. The film is an impressively innovative biopic thanks to its stellar editing, interesting cinematography, fun mockumentary approach and use of close-ups as well as breaking the fourth wall. It is beautifully acted by Margot Robbie and Allison Janney while being a consistently involving dramedy that successfully balances its tone as it deftly goes from a hilarious comedy to a serious character study to a heartbreaking tragedy. I, Tonya truly is one of the best films of 2017.

My Rating – 4.5