It is rather interesting that the term 'golden age' is typically used to describe historical periods which, at the time people were living through them, were not considered as such. Nostalgia, or comparisons with years, decades and centuries when things were worse, is the main reason why the term 'golden' is applied to certain spatiotemporal coordinates. One of the more recent examples might be Clinton's America, whose citizens for various reasons did not feel particularly happy, despite their country being plagued by problems that, when compared to the endless Middle Eastern wars, economic crises, colourful characters in the White House and the looming threat of nuclear apocalypse, appear at the very least trivial. This does not mean that the media at the time did not ruthlessly exploit these issues, which are now mockingly referred to as 'First World problems,' often succeeding in turning stories that, at best, did not deserve it into top-tier scandals. One such story was the case of Tonya Harding, the figure skater who, for all the wrong reasons, dominated American and global headlines, overshadowing children being killed by shelling in Sarajevo at the time or the genocide being prepared in Rwanda. Not even a few months after the events that brought her into the spotlight, her role was played by Alexandra Powers in a hastily but professionally made TV film, Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story. The entire story disappeared from the front pages relatively just as quickly and would likely have been completely forgotten had screenwriter Steven Rogers not, a quarter of a century later, come up with the idea to make an 'Oscar-bait' biographical film about it. This idea was realised in the 2017 film I, Tonya, which adorned itself with one of those statuettes—the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress won by Allison Janney.
I, Tonya is, by genre, a blend of the classic biographical film and pseudo-satirical black comedy, with its relatively unusual narrative structure incorporating pseudo-documentary scenes that serve as a framework, in which now visibly aged characters comment on past events, offering significantly different interpretations. The film then begins in the 1970s, when Tonya Harding, the three-year-old child of a Portland mechanic and waitress LaVone Golden (Allison Janney), first steps onto the ice rink to be trained in figure skating by Diane Rawlinson (Julianne Nicholson). Young Tonya is an undeniable talent, but her upbringing is marked by poverty and brutal abuse at the hands of her dysfunctional mother, who sees her daughter primarily as a golden goose. Fifteen-year-old Tonya (Margot Robbie) will attempt to find salvation in a romantic relationship, and later marriage, with the young Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), but this too will be marked by abuse. Meanwhile, her sports career advances, and in 1991 she makes history as the first American figure skater to successfully land a triple axel. However, she is continually held back not only by her troubled private life but also by the prejudices of the judges and the figure skating establishment, provoked by both her humble origins and her tomboyish behaviour and rebellious 'unrefined' character—so different from the ideals embodied by her main rival, the popular 'ice princess' Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver). Ahead of the 1994 Winter Olympics qualifiers, this rivalry will escalate into an unimaginable act of violence that will make Tonya Harding the most famous, yet most controversial, female athlete in the world.
At first glance, I, Tonya appeared to be a perfect 'Oscar-bait' film, a view shared by the now rather popular Australian actress Margot Robbie, who reportedly, upon receiving Rogers' screenplay, was convinced it was fiction rather than real events. Robbie produced the film and also put in exceptional effort in front of the camera, striving to convincingly portray Tonya Harding both as a 15-year-old girl and as a rather unglamorous middle-aged woman, particularly working hard to master skating skills. However, Robbie and her efforts cannot resolve two serious issues with this film. The first is the lack of budget, which, given that most of the film takes place in the rather unglamorous 'white trash' milieu, is not too noticeable, but which seriously sabotages the film at the very end, when during the scene of Tonya Harding's final dramatic Olympic performance, instead of John Williams' Jurassic Park score (which everyone who watched the original TV broadcast remembers), classical music is used (which apparently did not require spending money on copyright fees). The second, much more serious problem is that I, Tonya brings nothing particularly new or profound to the table, merely retelling what numerous other books, documentary shows, and even Tonya & Nancy—a quarter of a century earlier, with far less ambition—have already presented. It could have been different. This is best seen in the scene where Bobby Cannavale portrays Martin Maddox, the producer of, as he puts it, the 'disgusting tabloid TV show' Hard Copy, which 'now looks like all other TV news programmes'. This character appears far too briefly in the film, although the story of how and why Tonya Harding became such big news could have served as the basis for a far better and more relevant film today. Still, even as imperfect as it is, I, Tonya could easily come across as a masterpiece when compared to the films that will be winning 'Oscars' in twenty or thirty years' time.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here.)
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo
LeoDex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9
