There's famous, and then there's infamous. And here in the Pacific Northwest, Tonya Harding is about as infamous as it gets. Local darling turned Olympian, her implicit guilt in the competitive kneecapping of rival skater Nancy Kerrigan put her on the same shelf as O.J. - amoral pioneers of the era of reality T.V. culture.
Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, The Finest Hours) and writer Steven Rogers (Kate & Leopold) give us a take on Harding's rise and fall that as the title suggests, is told from her somewhat tunnel-vision perspective of someone who defaults to seeing themselves as the victim. After all, as shown here, Tonya (Margot Robbie) has been a magnet for abuse her entire life. Gillespie's tone is wry and full of winking at the rednecks irony - aren't they funny!? He works a similar side of the street as the Coen brothers in Fargo, seeming to appreciate the uniqueness of blue collar characters while simultaneously having fun at their clueless expense. It doesn't always go over well, and it can be tempting to let slide amidst the incredible early-nineties period detail, eyebrow-raising wardrobe and killer soundtrack that Gillespie weaves together. His filmmaking skill is stellar, and his teamwork with cinematographer Nicholas Karakatsanis and editor Tatiana S. Riegel jerks and hurtles through the ice rinks and double-wides of Harding's life like Henry Hill meets Appalachia. I'm betting Craig Gillespie is a big fan of Boogie Nights.
But Margot Robbie is just sensational here. Her Tonya Harding evolves from near child to flinty hard-case throughout the film, and she's in damn near every scene. It's an incredible performance, emotionally and physically, and this should catapult her to the front of the line (sorry, Jennifer Lawrence) for roles. She endures so much abuse from those close to her, when things finally go south, she's been reflexively programmed to feel like she's always the victim, how can she have any other response to events? Allison Janney is terrific as the stage-mom from hell, LaVona. It's a wildly over-the-top theatrical performance, with Janney wearing a Moe Howard bowl cut, oversized eyeglasses, draped in faux fur and perpetually chain-smoking. She's venal, violent and obscene, spewing horrifics to the human impediments foolish enough to linger in her wake.
It's wild to see Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier!) as Harding's brutal blank-slate of a boyfriend/husband. With his Republican crew cut and "unfortunate" mustache, "Jeff Gillooly" turns from soft-spoken hapless innocent to aspiring Svengali quicker than Harding can execute a Triple Axel. Stan is always terrific to watch, and he makes the most of Gillooly's ambitious frustrations. Huge kudos to Paul Walter Hauser, who's disturbingly convincing as Jeff's impulsively deluded co-enabler, Shawn Eckardt.
I don't really imagine Gillespie and Rogers think that Tonya Harding is blameless. But the conceit is their telling this story through her lens. It's a crazy mistake to think Harding is any kind of blameless heroine. Having seen this story play out locally, nobody here's going to feel very sorry for her. But what Margot Robbie makes resonate is the pain of a cultural class divide that's willing to dismiss her talent and athleticism because she lacks the breeding and image that the sport depends on. That "You don't belong here" sting is something we can all feel sympathy for, though it doesn't excuse what happened. But it does make you wish that somehow, her spirit and guts can find a way to help her avoid the train-wreck that we all know is coming.
Director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, The Finest Hours) and writer Steven Rogers (Kate & Leopold) give us a take on Harding's rise and fall that as the title suggests, is told from her somewhat tunnel-vision perspective of someone who defaults to seeing themselves as the victim. After all, as shown here, Tonya (Margot Robbie) has been a magnet for abuse her entire life. Gillespie's tone is wry and full of winking at the rednecks irony - aren't they funny!? He works a similar side of the street as the Coen brothers in Fargo, seeming to appreciate the uniqueness of blue collar characters while simultaneously having fun at their clueless expense. It doesn't always go over well, and it can be tempting to let slide amidst the incredible early-nineties period detail, eyebrow-raising wardrobe and killer soundtrack that Gillespie weaves together. His filmmaking skill is stellar, and his teamwork with cinematographer Nicholas Karakatsanis and editor Tatiana S. Riegel jerks and hurtles through the ice rinks and double-wides of Harding's life like Henry Hill meets Appalachia. I'm betting Craig Gillespie is a big fan of Boogie Nights.
But Margot Robbie is just sensational here. Her Tonya Harding evolves from near child to flinty hard-case throughout the film, and she's in damn near every scene. It's an incredible performance, emotionally and physically, and this should catapult her to the front of the line (sorry, Jennifer Lawrence) for roles. She endures so much abuse from those close to her, when things finally go south, she's been reflexively programmed to feel like she's always the victim, how can she have any other response to events? Allison Janney is terrific as the stage-mom from hell, LaVona. It's a wildly over-the-top theatrical performance, with Janney wearing a Moe Howard bowl cut, oversized eyeglasses, draped in faux fur and perpetually chain-smoking. She's venal, violent and obscene, spewing horrifics to the human impediments foolish enough to linger in her wake.
It's wild to see Sebastian Stan (The Winter Soldier!) as Harding's brutal blank-slate of a boyfriend/husband. With his Republican crew cut and "unfortunate" mustache, "Jeff Gillooly" turns from soft-spoken hapless innocent to aspiring Svengali quicker than Harding can execute a Triple Axel. Stan is always terrific to watch, and he makes the most of Gillooly's ambitious frustrations. Huge kudos to Paul Walter Hauser, who's disturbingly convincing as Jeff's impulsively deluded co-enabler, Shawn Eckardt.
I don't really imagine Gillespie and Rogers think that Tonya Harding is blameless. But the conceit is their telling this story through her lens. It's a crazy mistake to think Harding is any kind of blameless heroine. Having seen this story play out locally, nobody here's going to feel very sorry for her. But what Margot Robbie makes resonate is the pain of a cultural class divide that's willing to dismiss her talent and athleticism because she lacks the breeding and image that the sport depends on. That "You don't belong here" sting is something we can all feel sympathy for, though it doesn't excuse what happened. But it does make you wish that somehow, her spirit and guts can find a way to help her avoid the train-wreck that we all know is coming.
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