Review of I, Tonya (2017) by John M — 29 Jan 2018

A strong social commentary and drama, precise, fast and uncompromising, there is no relaxing here. It is hard to watch. The film deserves a place in cinema studies because it tracks opposite to most screen treatments of violence and disadvantage.

It presents a thorough condemnation of violence. The show is unromantic about these things - they are unpleasant; yet blood and guns are scarce, even though every scene is loaded with real or latent violence.

Nothing turns out all right in the end. Audiences hoping to become judge and jury on Tonya could be frustrated, when the film shows that the truth is variable, depending on who someone is. People from the wrong side of the tracks will soon recognise scenarios when the points and the prizes go to others who are the right fit but not the best.

Here, supporting characters strike weird notes: the outrageous, two-dimensional mother, played mercilessly by Janney; the cartoonish thugs; the well-spoken husband, who presents like a crazed version of Somerset Maugham.

They contrast with the film's realism on the various judges; the real power. The scenes between Tonya and the judges express the key to the story: watch for the one in the car park. Robbie delivers Tonya's struggles and inner life; Robbie is low on embellishments, big on intelligence, determination and drive.

When at the end you see the newsreel of Tonya's biggest skating win, Robbie has been as close to that blinding energy as anyone could ask for. The film is a no-waste exercise: scenes are blunt, editing is ultra sharp, production is enough and no more; the film doesn't care that the teenager scenes look too old or that in them Robbie resembles Princess Diana.

The acting rejects useless nuance, the plot does not need twists. You will get the point: how people are wrecked. Wherever you sheet the blame, the tragedy of the two young women, Tonya and Nancy, is heartbreaking.

The picture of Nancy's face at the end begs the question - how could she know whether the medal was awarded to her only for her skating, or for other reasons? Tonya lost her skating future completely, her reputation, and a great deal more.

This show is not a fable. It is a stark picture of the layers of society, and it points too at the power of corporates - it is America, and every other place. What a brave production to put on such unpalatable themes, to mostly avoid the conventional idols of violence and guns, to cut Stanislavsky to the bare essentials, and then to inject the show with vicious humour, while mounting a cogent moral philosophy about society and inequality.

To knit all of that out of a last-century ice-skating scandal - who would have thought?