I, Tonya
I remember being interested in the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan affair when it happened in 1994 more than being fascinated by it. It was at a time when the Olympics held my interest, and it was definitely THE news of the ’94 Winter Olympics, but afterwards, I didn’t give it a whole lot of thought unless Harding’s name came into the news, for some reason. Craig Gillespie’s film, “I, Tonya,” which is based on actual interviews with Harding, her mother, and her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, is very similar for me- interesting, but not fascinated by it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t entertained by it, however.
A decade before “I, Tonya,” Gillespie directed one of my very favorite, unusual films of 2007, “Lars and the Real Girl,” and the tone of that odd romantic comedy-drama carries over well to the story of Harding and her life, her love, and her skating career. By basing his script on interviews with the main players in this little drama, screenwriter Steven Rogers is giving himself cart blanche to have contradicting testimonies on what happened, which gives this film a personality a straight biopic would not have had, and yeah, the attitude reminds one of “GoodFellas,” as one critic said, but the way things unfold it’s as if the events in “GoodFellas” were perpetrated by very stupid people who had no clue what they were doing. That makes it pretty funny, but to his credit, Gillespie doesn’t treat his characters like jokes, and gives them respect. I like that about this film.
As Harding, Margot Robbie does terrific work in putting us into Tonya’s head, as much as possible. The film is warts and all with these characters, and Harding is no exception. We feel as though we’re getting the real story, and real talk, from Harding, even if we don’t know we can feel we’re getting 100% truth from her, but the fact that Tonya, Jeff (played by Sebastian Stan) or Tonya’s mother, LaVona (the great Allison Janney), all feel somewhat unreliable in their testimony is what gives the film a sense of authenticity and energy you wouldn’t get from a conventional film on these events. The film may be charting lurid and intense topics like domestic violence and abuse (which we see plenty of between not just Tonya and Jeff, but Tonya and her mother), not to mention the assault on Kerrigan right before the ’94 Olympics that Gillooly helped facilitate, but the film isn’t an exploitation of its material rather than a way of bringing this material to life. Gillespie has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and his cast helps bring this story to life with a unique perspective on how this story should be told. Regardless of how it lands with you, there’s no denying it’ll make an impression.
