I, Tonya treats the story of Tonya Harding as if you already know the punchline, and you probably do. It doesn't build up to the "incident" in climactic mystery-drama style, like some sort of "Memento on Ice". Instead, it focuses on correcting the public consciousness of an uncomfortably complex figure. It isn't a single-minded recreation or a myopic vision of an easy character. It's a celebration of the ethically grey, allowing the bigger truths to shine through the conflicting details. One of the most stylish, energetic, and hilarious films of the year, I, Tonya is a stone-cold scorcher.
A biopic of Olympic-skater-turned-American-pariah Tonya Harding, we're given a fully-formed view of what made the superstar one of the most controversial people in sports, and one of the most compelling cultural characters ever. On simple filmic levels (perfect performances, fun long-takes, seamless ice skating cinematography), it's nearly impeccable. The film glides along gracefully, before repeatedly being hit by a baton of style, violence & unique honesty. Using conflicting first-hand accounts, recreated interviews and fascinating fourth-wall-breaking, it manages to make a ubiquitous news story an eye-opening experiment of stylish filmmaking.
Not that the style is mindless pretension. All the kinetic editing and unique writing play into the real point: that truth is more complicated than heroes and villains. Harding worked hard, tried to dress the part, piled up the makeup to hide her bruises (both literal and figurative). Yet no matter how she changed her image, she couldn't change others' perceptions, or even the truth of who she was. She was human. She was complicated, and so was her story. And I, Tonya treats her with that respect, all while staying endlessly entertaining.
Review of I, Tonya
