179.
I, Tonya
8/10
Yet another Odeon Screen Unseen advanced showing and yet another that was coming up for a few awards at the Oscars. I am surprised by how many bigger films they are showing in the advanced screening in the run up to awards season. This looks a pretty good film, which looks into the untold stories and what came out in the press regarding the controversy, which surround the American ice-skater Tonya Harding. With some quick paced trailers and musical score, the movie was made to look pretty good and after a review claiming that this was the 'Goodfellas of ice-skating', surely that can only be a good thing. Harding is played by Margot Robbie, with Sebastian Stan playing the boyfriend and Allison Janney picking up an Oscar for best supporting female for playing Harding's mother. It has all the potential to be very interested, so let's hope it doesn't fall though the ice.
The movie begins in a pretty fast motion, as we see the youth of Harding and at 3 years-old, she is forced to skate by her very abusive mother, who takes no shit from anyone. She is even removed from school in order to use all of her time training under her new coach, Diane Rawlinson. She quickly becomes one of the leading skaters in the US but cannot shake off her tag of being 'white trash'.
We watch closely as she grows older and starts dating Jeff Gillooly, played by Sebastian Stan, despite her mother's unwillingness for it all to happen. They even rush into a wedding, mainly so that she can move out of her mother's home and into Jeff's, but this soon turns sour as he starts to physically abuse her, as her mother blames her for putting up with it, but Tonya fights back with reasons of her mother raising her in a violent household. Some of these altercations even come with Harding chasing Jeff with a shotgun, as she looks at the camera and breaks the 'forth wall', claiming that, 'this never happened'. Under a new coach, Tonya becomes the first American female to land a certain set of jumps in competition and after getting to the Olympics, she tries it again and fails, returning home in fourth place and to a job working as a waitress. Her first trainer, Diane, meets her outside the restaurant and convinces her to train on the next Winter Olympics. With all of this playing on her mind, she sets off to see her mother for the first time in a while, and after seeking kindness from herm she gets nothing but an explanation that her mother made her a champion, knowing that her daughter would hate her for it.
Later on, after some more training scenes, Tonya receives a death threat and after seeing what it was doing to his wife, Jeff thought it would be a good idea to get someone to send the same to Harding's main rival, Nancy Kerrigan. This doesn't exactly turn out as planned, as Jeff's mate, Shawn, fancies himself as a bit of a lad and wants to get some notoriety. He, instead, hires two crooks with about as much use as the Chuckle Brothers, who end up bashing Nancy's knee in after he practice. They are both soon arrested and after Shawn starts bragging around town about his involvement, the FBI soon catch up with him too. He then points the finger at Jeff, who is horrified to find out what had actually happened. Tonya still qualifies for the Olympics, despite the controversy surrounding her. She knows that she will be found guilty, so tries to put the ball in her court as she goes to the FBI and tells them that it was Jeff and Shawn. Once they take Jeff in, you can imagine he is pretty pissed and he races to her house to lay the smackdown. Instead, she locks him out and escapes through a window, leaving him for the final time. Jeff heads back to the FBI and tells them that Harding knew about everything, all along.
The film draws to an end with Harding coming eight and Nancy making it to the final and winning the Silver medal. Back home, Tonya is greeted by a media circus, where she is asked all sorts of questions as they camp outside of her house. Her mother turns up for support and tells her that she is on her daughter's side, before asking if she was involved. Tonya knows her mother too well to think nothing is up and soon finds a tape recorder inside of her mother's coat. Jeff, Shawn and one half of The Chuckle Brothers are all sentenced to a couple of years and Tonya avoids jail but gets a lifetime ban from skating in competitions. She is distraught by this, demanding that she gets jail time rather than having the one thing that she loves, taken away from her. The sentence stands though and then we see Jeff watching the TV, knowing he has ruined her life. The movie finally ends with a kind of 'where-are-they-now', but each character still being played by the actor or actress. This had already been shown a little bit throughout the movie, with each person being made to look older. Jeff had changed his name and remarried, as Tonya has now become a boxer, using her notoriety to her advantage, whilst also looking after her two children.
This movie, for being based around true events, 'famous' characters, if more so in America, was full of serious points and also brought some humour. Between the foul-mouthed rants, breaking the forth wall and mini, comedic fights, there was almost some moments where you could feel sympathy for most people involved. Being from the UK, doesn't really make these people household names, but for a skater, who actually won very little, for her to have a movie written about her and it to be tag lined as the 'Goodfellas of skating', it was also going to be worth a look. Each actor and actress brought something to the table, when most had actually met up with the people with were playing, in order to do their own research. This showed, as the mannerisms and speeches, gripped you by the balls and brought you into their crazy world. This may be a bizarre plot for many viewers, especially on this side of 'the pond', but this movie turned out to be a lot more than just tabloid trash.
We watch closely as she grows older and starts dating Jeff Gillooly, played by Sebastian Stan, despite her mother's unwillingness for it all to happen. They even rush into a wedding, mainly so that she can move out of her mother's home and into Jeff's, but this soon turns sour as he starts to physically abuse her, as her mother blames her for putting up with it, but Tonya fights back with reasons of her mother raising her in a violent household. Some of these altercations even come with Harding chasing Jeff with a shotgun, as she looks at the camera and breaks the 'forth wall', claiming that, 'this never happened'. Under a new coach, Tonya becomes the first American female to land a certain set of jumps in competition and after getting to the Olympics, she tries it again and fails, returning home in fourth place and to a job working as a waitress. Her first trainer, Diane, meets her outside the restaurant and convinces her to train on the next Winter Olympics. With all of this playing on her mind, she sets off to see her mother for the first time in a while, and after seeking kindness from herm she gets nothing but an explanation that her mother made her a champion, knowing that her daughter would hate her for it.
Later on, after some more training scenes, Tonya receives a death threat and after seeing what it was doing to his wife, Jeff thought it would be a good idea to get someone to send the same to Harding's main rival, Nancy Kerrigan. This doesn't exactly turn out as planned, as Jeff's mate, Shawn, fancies himself as a bit of a lad and wants to get some notoriety. He, instead, hires two crooks with about as much use as the Chuckle Brothers, who end up bashing Nancy's knee in after he practice. They are both soon arrested and after Shawn starts bragging around town about his involvement, the FBI soon catch up with him too. He then points the finger at Jeff, who is horrified to find out what had actually happened. Tonya still qualifies for the Olympics, despite the controversy surrounding her. She knows that she will be found guilty, so tries to put the ball in her court as she goes to the FBI and tells them that it was Jeff and Shawn. Once they take Jeff in, you can imagine he is pretty pissed and he races to her house to lay the smackdown. Instead, she locks him out and escapes through a window, leaving him for the final time. Jeff heads back to the FBI and tells them that Harding knew about everything, all along.
The film draws to an end with Harding coming eight and Nancy making it to the final and winning the Silver medal. Back home, Tonya is greeted by a media circus, where she is asked all sorts of questions as they camp outside of her house. Her mother turns up for support and tells her that she is on her daughter's side, before asking if she was involved. Tonya knows her mother too well to think nothing is up and soon finds a tape recorder inside of her mother's coat. Jeff, Shawn and one half of The Chuckle Brothers are all sentenced to a couple of years and Tonya avoids jail but gets a lifetime ban from skating in competitions. She is distraught by this, demanding that she gets jail time rather than having the one thing that she loves, taken away from her. The sentence stands though and then we see Jeff watching the TV, knowing he has ruined her life. The movie finally ends with a kind of 'where-are-they-now', but each character still being played by the actor or actress. This had already been shown a little bit throughout the movie, with each person being made to look older. Jeff had changed his name and remarried, as Tonya has now become a boxer, using her notoriety to her advantage, whilst also looking after her two children.
This movie, for being based around true events, 'famous' characters, if more so in America, was full of serious points and also brought some humour. Between the foul-mouthed rants, breaking the forth wall and mini, comedic fights, there was almost some moments where you could feel sympathy for most people involved. Being from the UK, doesn't really make these people household names, but for a skater, who actually won very little, for her to have a movie written about her and it to be tag lined as the 'Goodfellas of skating', it was also going to be worth a look. Each actor and actress brought something to the table, when most had actually met up with the people with were playing, in order to do their own research. This showed, as the mannerisms and speeches, gripped you by the balls and brought you into their crazy world. This may be a bizarre plot for many viewers, especially on this side of 'the pond', but this movie turned out to be a lot more than just tabloid trash.
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