I, TONYA REVIEW

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Being born in the late 1990s, I wasn't aware of the 1994 incident involving professional ice skater, Nancy Kerrigan, who was attacked by a group of thugs associated with fellow skater, Tonya Harding. However, the story is told from Harding's point of view, rather than Kerrigan's. By doing this, we get a deeper insight into the incident and, also, into Harding's life, from when she first began ice skating at the age of three to her life following the events that ruined her career. However, is the film deserving of its three Academy Award nominations? Or is it overrated?

Based on the unbelievable, but true events, I, Tonya is a darkly comedic tale of American figure skater, Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie), 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. The film documents Harding's life and we see her relationships with her mother, LaVona (Allison Janney), and her husband, Jeff Gillroy (Sebastian Stan), both of which were abusive.

I, Tonya opens by showing footage from the individual interviews with Harding, Gillroy and LaVona. By showing footage of the interviews, we get to hear from each character's point of view and honest opinions. Gillespie also uses fourth wall breaking throughout the film. In some cases, when a character talks to the audience directly, it can come off as awkward, however, in I, Tonya, it works. It makes the audience feel more involved by knowing that some of the scenes in the film really did happen. For example, during a montage that shows Harding training in the forest by running with bags of dog food on her back and bottles of milk filled with water, her training coach, Diane Rawlinson (Julianne Nicholson) turns to the camera and tells the audience that Harding really did use these training methods. Harding makes a pop culture reference during her training and informs the audience that 'Rocky did this', referring to the training method involving bags of dog food. Knowing that Harding really did use these training methods made me all the more impressed. 

Another impressive aspect of I, Tonya was the cast, who all give strong performances, especially Robbie, who earns her current Oscar nomination by embodying Harding's fierce personality. She delivers her sharp pieces of dialogue with relish, however, there are scenes that show Harding's sensitivity, including in one scene where we see her applying make-up in her dressing room and trying to smile, despite the tears falling down her face. This is an effective scene as we know Harding is affected by all the criticism she receives. Robbie made her breakthrough performance in Martin Scorcese's 2013 Oscar-nominated drama, The Wolf of Wall Street, as Leonardo DiCaprio's wife. Since then, she has gone on to make appearances in films such as Focus and Suicide Squad. Although the latter film was a disappointment, Robbie still gave a standout performance as Harley Quinn and proved to be one of the few highlights of the film. Another strong performance comes from Janney as Harding's abusive mother ​and is almost unrecognisable underneath the wig and costume. The screenwriter, Steven Rogers, ​wrote the role of Tonya's mother LaVona for Janney; she was a longtime friend of Rogers, however, the "stars hadn’t aligned" for them to work together until he completed the script for I, Tonya. Janney said the part was one of the most challenging of her career, due to the nature of her character. Like Robbie, Janney thoroughly deserves to be nominated for an Academy Award. Stan is best known by superhero fans as Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, however, as Jeff, he gives his best dramatic role yet. 

While the poster and trailer may imply that this is a light-hearted drama with elements of comedy, there were a few tough scenes to watch. Most of the intense drama comes from Harding and her abusive relationships with both her mother and husband. These scenes make us feel more sympathetic towards Harding as she went through, almost her whole life, being physically abused and no one said anything, yet when Kerrigran is attacked, the entire world makes a fuss about it. Viewers who knew of the incident may have their original opinion of Harding changed. Towards the end of the film, Harding addresses the audience and tells them that, as well as her mother and her husband, they were her attackers too. Although not physically, Harding felt like she was being abused all over again as the media and press would constantly harass her and wait outside her house to hear her side of the story. Although, while Harding isn't the most likable character, it's hard not to feel sympathy for her, after seeing everything she's been through. 

Ice skating plays a big part in I, Tonya and the scenes showing Harding's skating skills are impressive. To prepare for the skating scenes, Robbie trained for four months. Heidi Munger and Anna Malkova served as skating doubles and Sarah Kawahara provided coaching and choreography. While Harding was the first female to achieve a triple axel, because Robbie isn't a professional skater, the scene showing Harding achieve this move was completed using visual effects. 

​Overall, I, Tonya is an entertaining if imperfect telling of the unlikely champion from the wrong side of the tracks and the violent 1994 incident that would go on to define her life. Although Harding had no involvement with Kerrigan's injury, the FBI, media and press all made it seem like it was her fault and she lost her ice skating career because of it. I, Tonya gives us the insight and reveals who really was behind the incident.
8/10