I, Tonya2017

“America, you know – they want someone to love, but they want someone to hate.” The above quote captures the spirit of how tumultuous Tonya Harding’s career was from it’s bright beginning to it’s horrid end. She really went out sad. Craig Gillespie chronicles the life and hardships of Tonya Harding from her perspective. This is evident throughout the film when everyone involved recounts their events in a completely different way than Tonya did. Her husband Jeff saying Tonya was violent and almost murdered him to her mother saying Tonya was exaggerating the verbal and sometimes physical abuse she doled out to “motivate” Tonya. Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney really kill their characters in terms of portrayal. Paul Hauser’s character cracked me the fuck up along the way. Margot Robbie brings Tonya Harding to life in her portrayal, we can see it from her expressing her frustration to being overlooked countless times because she doesn’t fit the “wholesome American image” to her enduring her abusive relationships with her mother and husband and her finally receiving her flowers all for it to come crashing down because of her moronic ex-husband and his co-horts.  I loved the reference to Darren Aronovsky’s movie Black Swan. That was cinema heritage right there. I along with Tonya was depressed as she lost the very thing that gave her life meaning and made all the abuse and torment she endured worth it. Especially because before the 1994 Cobo Arena attack, Tonya was thriving. It was chilling to witness because in the same situation I would also opt for the jail time before being made to abandon the only thing that made me feel whole as a human being. The training montages were also amazing as we went through a roller coaster of emotions with Tonya. Everytime she struggled over and over again and when we finally saw her prosper, was cathartic to put it mildly. It felt wonderful watching her face obstacle to obstacle to even becoming disheartened at a point and trying again because she’s so in love with the sport. The film shines when paralleling images from Tonya’s highest of highs to her eventual downfall or her lowest of lows moments. Nothing life changing but a solid sports film nonetheless.