I, Tonya (2017) - and some tangential Oscars thoughts

Inevitably, we come to the time of year where the big awards are being handed out and the Oscars are upon us and it turns out I have not seen any critically acclaimed movies this year. Well, except Get Out, which I am so happy to see getting the recognition it deserves. There's a whole rant brewing about social commentary being dismissed by horror fans (because scariness is all that matters) and not being taken seriously by the broader community (because it's just a scary movie) that totally disregards the excellent direction and writing and overall work in a movie like that. My other favourites from the year were a little left of centre: Raw deserved something for Foreign Language but it was one of the more visceral horror films around and Colossal was technically screened at TIFF 2016 and it was pretty weird.

I do tend to make it a mission to see films with lots of buzz, because I want to be educated before I make any sweeping statements on them. While trailers for Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri definitely indicated a strong performance from Frances McDormand and I do have a long held affection for Sam Rockwell, the undercurrents of racism made me cautious, and recent writing on the film's mishandling of race (like this Wesley Morris piece at the New York Times) have solidified that for me. The Post might be Spielberg directed and see Meryl Streep with her twenty-whatever-th nomination, but that combination doesn't ignite a flame of interest for me - for me, the priority is always films that, in some way, feel fresh. What DID catch my interest? The Shape of Water, definitely - I've heard mixed reviews, but nothing Guillermo del Toro creates is ever boring to look at and I obviously must see the fish man fucking movie. The Florida Project looks eye searingly beautiful and exactly the kind of thing I will cry over. Ladybird seems right up my female driven and directed, early aughts set alley. And of course, there was I, Tonya. Which brings us to this review!

Going into the theatre, I was aware that anything about Tonya Harding would be new information to me. I know nothing about winter sports, and the nineties were a time for me to learn to walk and talk instead of pay attention to international athlete affairs. In a way, I think that made me the perfect audience - I had no bias regarding Harding or Nancy Kerrigan, no strong feelings about casting, and got to look at Craig Gillespie's film as a film on its own.

Marketed as a Tonya Harding biopic starring Margot Robbie, I found I, Tonya to be a far more interest examination of truth and subjectivity - the importance of controlling the narrative, and what happens when you can't. It isn't particularly subtle about it. The movie opens with text informing you that it is based on wildly contradictory reports, and Robbie as Harding talks a lot about there being no one true way to tell a story. I could have done without that section of the closing monologue, I'll be honest, but the movie as a whole felt particularly poignant as a product of late post-modernity and, more specifically, Fake News a la Trump's America. There is something so metaphorically resonant about the reprisal of an old crime in order to pick apart the angles and possibilities and shift blames and dispute long held ideas. I love the idea of systemically dismantling moral binaries, and the categorical disruption of truth is a clear theme in so much modern media that makes it way more interesting but also makes for murkier waters in real life discussions.

In terms of those real life discussions, it would be remiss of me not to talk about the heavy depictions of domestic abuse in this movie, especially in the current climate of exposure and openness. There is a litany of thinkpieces on the movie's comedic tone and juxtaposition with abuse (here's an interesting one by Madeline Davis, a look more in line with mine by Inkoo Kang at Slate on the messiness of victimhood) and I will say that there were times when it was nearly too much for me. Harding's abuse is depicted on emotional and physical levels, from her mother and then from her partner, and often it is set to music or in a montage and it is tough stuff. I understand how people felt like it was not taking the abuse seriously. Personally, I felt that it was nodding to the deconstructed story and each individual's claim (whether founded or not) that they had never abused Harding. It was also very clear that in spite of the movie playing for laughs in general, abusive characters were - at least in my eyes - never redeemed or expected to be seen as sympathetic. Even Tonya herself, in spite of the movie's decidedly alignment with her story, remains as she is and was: unapologetic and largely unsympathetic.

In a movie all about image (and indeed, I, Tonya is more about the image of Tonya Harding than the reality, which is honestly more interesting for cinema), a lot has been made of whether or not actors look like the people they are portraying. They do not! And it's fine. This movie deserves credit for how excellent the hair and makeup were - it isn't all glamorous gowns and big wigs, it's bad eighties hair and purple lipstick - but also for stellar performances. Bar Sebastian Stan, who I could not lose in his role - I guess that's a personal thing? - everyone else was excellent. Allison Janney was great, but I don't know that it was the best I've ever seen her in a role. 

There were moments in the movie that just made sense from a filmmaking perspective. Being in the protagonist's shoes as the flashbulbs go off, feeling attacked for watching the movie you're enjoying (a la Funny Games), watching a moment play out as a character yells at your that it didn't happen - the nods to the camera spiral into full on slaps to the face, and it works, because that's what the movie is full of. 

Sometimes, though, I wish there had been a moment of restraint so that the hyperrealism felt a bit more elevated. I could have done without those moments of "There is no such thing as truth" in the narration, because we've figured that out. I could have done with a deeper exploration of Nancy Kerrigan, who is rarely in frame for more than three seconds. There are so many interesting things at stake about the compulsive need of the media and the public to pit women against each other. We saw seconds of it, but I wanted more. 

Rating: 8.5/10 - I had a wonderful time with I, Tonya, and I would definitely recommend it. Bits of it niggled at me and I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Get Out or Colossal, but it was right up there.