I, Tonya (DVD)

"I, Tonya" has great acting. Aside from Allison Janney and Margot Robbie, the movie is an enthrallment of impressions glorified by outlandish strangeness and conceited characters. The scene of Nancy Kerrigan(played by Caitlin Carver) being maimed is violent and is an act done vulgarly, which is commonplace with these people. "I, Tonya" is not just based off of true events, it is much more concerned with the footage of testimonies from the real people about the events of 1994, in a Detroit skating arena, where ice-figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was hit in the back of the knee and disabled. Shane Stanton(Ricky Russert) is the one who strikes Nancy, and the planner is Shawn Eckardt(Paul Walter Hauser). Shawn claims that Jeff Gillooly(Sebastian Stan), Tonya's husband, hired him to do it. In short sequences the characters are portrayed in interview segments and their views about their own actions are defensive and cynical. The fact that these people suffer abuse(especially Tonya Harding), and get back on their feet with renewed bias' and hatreds is a pleasure-punch orientation that is training their existence. The siily conspiracies to razz other ice-skaters or to send threatening letters to Nancy Kerrigan are effortless crowd pleasing arousals, but the haven of popular acceptance is a small sultry place with false friends. Thinking about disrespect and pleasure caused by smite, implies a select mannerism; when it is understood that kindness is a weakness, the beguiling delights of dissection are shared in outcast meetings. Still, there is no real answer for the event of Nancy Kerrigan getting 'hit', for the physical abuse of Tonya Harding(whatever version), or for the idea of paying somebody to maim a competitor as a nonconsequential after thought made in excitement. The solution is, I think, that these people should be investigated. Allison Janney plays Lavona Golden, Tonya's mother, and is an irony of singular divorced insensitivity wrought as real as if she were plunked down into "I Tonya" from a crane on a street of wayfarers. Allison Janney won the Academy award for Best Supporting Actress in 2018 for her performance. The character of Tonya Harding is played sequentially from early childhood by Maizie Smith and McKenna Grace, and in adulthood by Margot Robbie. All of them are great. Margot Robbie's evocations of intense or cool demeanors is grafted into the ice skating persona of Tonya Harding in her precocious recognition of the pleasure in exercising talent. Sebastian Stan playing Jeff Gillooly has a quirky human folly ethos but is as down to earth as any young married husband. Julianne Nicholson as Diane Rawlinson, and Paul Walter Hauser as Shawn Eckardt are also amazing.

Acting was believable to me.Everyone knows the story...Not every actor or script allows you to suspend disbelief!I found it entertaining, and sad... I was actually rooting forTonya during the actual games.

It is impossible to see Allison Janney's performance in the first 3 minutes of the film, and not be certain she is going to win the Oscar.Allison was not able to meet LaVona, Tonya's abusive, cold, manager/mother, to research her "character" "So," she said, "I just made her up."The "mockumentary" style, perfect for one of the most highly publicized stories in history, uses bits of mock interviews with the characters throughout the movie, and as a segue into scenes, which is how you meet Lavona.Everything in that scene, the set, the script, direction, hair, costume and Allison's performance, gave the audience very little doubt about LaVona. I almost felt like I was in the room with her, thinking I was going to reek of cigarettes and worried she was going to come at me for something!"I Tonya" is a compelling, account of Tonya Harding, the extraordinarily talented, ambitious figure skater, who, despite being so close many times, could not escape the legacy of growing up "White Trash", and succeed in a sport that was not exactly"friendly" to a girl from the wrong side of the tracks.Billed as a dark comedy, "I Tonya" is not exactly the type of comedy that gets big laughs, but Gillooly, and his bungling crew of bone heads provide some comic relief.When Tonya shoots at Gillooly with a rifle, she "breaks character" and addresses the "audience" saying, "I didn't do this," It is kind of a "wink" at the mockumentary style.However, ultimately, this technique, using exaggeration, and deadpan delivery, is intended to illustrate real absurdity, and the tragic aspects of Tonya's life.Just focusing on Tonya's abusive relationship with her husband, and the scandal surrounding the attack on rival skater, Nancy Kerrigan, could have easily translated into an entertaining straight drama.Although it does actually appear to be the focus, I think the intention was to use her difficult upbringing, and the frequent, escalating abuse and domestic violence with husband, Jeff Gillooly as a backdrop for the larger story of classism in the U.S., and the impact the legacy of rural poverty has on generations from that culture.We may not think about the rarity of a story like Tonya's.The likelihood of a girl, especially, making it out of rural poverty at all is practically zero, then becoming a contender for world champion in such an unlikely, demanding sport.....well, that's why it's a story.The question of how much credit should be given to LaVona for Tonya's success is difficult, since she also cannot be exempt from responsibility for Tonya's failures, and the film did not waiver and use license to take sides either way.Another reviewer who grew up in it, calls rural poverty, a culture of "desperation."I have described it as exactly that, although I have just observed someone from that culture, and his life of constant chaos.I would definitely say a learned desperation was responsible for Tonya's circumstances. There is a heartbreaking scene with Tonya only about six years old, watching her Ioving stepfather suddenly driving away, while Tonya screams and pleads to no avail.However, I think it's not always a case of desperation, but the inability to consider future consequences it ultimately creates. I think it develops a behavior of always acting to fill immediate needs, even when there are other options.It is the absence of considered thinking and judgement, and repeated bad decisions made on impulse, that become a devastating life pattern.You see Tonya sabotage herself over and over again,when she actually had some pretty lucky breaks.The Olympic Committee changes the winter schedule, it allowed Tonya a one time chance to compete in only 2 years.They also discontinued compulsory figures and put the focus on jumps.Tonya was the best in the world at jumps.But, she arrives 2 days late, and the whole issue with the lace on her skate, occurred because she didn't bring an extra pair of laces.There was a moment when Tonya fires Diane, a great job, played by Julieanne Nicholson, her coach since childhood, and she throws her skate at her.Diane wasn't hit, but the still shot of of Tonya's face showed in her eyes, that she recognized her mother in herself for the first time.Margot Robbie, a stunning Australian actress who played the gorgeous trophy wife of Leo DiCaprio in the "Wolf of Wallstreet", shows she can also easily pull off a strong, complex character like Tonya, with an excellent performance that is also Oscar worthy.I can only say, it is hard to complete this review without ruining the ending.The script and direction were outstanding in a film that never wavered from its intention to accurately present Tonya's story, and let the audience decide.

My daughter is a figure skater so that made me decide to watch this movie. I also grew up around the time that this scandal was going on so I wanted more info on it. I ended up loving the movie and all the actors in it. Margot is especially amazing and I plan to watch more of her movies now.

Such a great movie. Based on Tonya Hardings' true story. ??

press convicks w/o trial

I loved the character and her realness of just getting her real story out she play the character very well

This movie was great and reasonably priced

Ich hatte damals die ganze Sache um Tonya Harding verfolgt, aber war noch zu jung, um alles genau zu erfassen. Und der Fall wurde, wenn ich mich recht erinnere, in Europa auch nicht so aufgebauscht. In den USA schlachtete man es aus, denn Harding war ein Star auf dem Eis. In dem Film wird endlich mal nicht die schöne Welt des Sports gezeigt, sondern die Realität. Es beginnt als Kleinkind und dann folgt Drill, Disziplin, jeden Tag Training. Alles dreht sich nur noch um den Sport und gemessen wird man an den Leistungen, Siegen. Eine Freundin von mir machte Kunstturnen. Sie begann mit 4 Jahren und dann eben war alles nur noch der Sport- da gab es keine Zeit mit Freunden, Kino oder sowas, sondern nur Training nach der Schule.Harding sprang schon mit zwölf Jahren den dreifachen Lutz. Aber sie kam aus keiner Vorzeigefamilie, ihre Eltern waren geschieden, die Mutter egozentrisch, sieht in der Tochter nur das Sport-Ass. Das passte den Jurys oft nicht, man wollte "Everybody`s Darling", nicht Kind aus Mittelschicht mit zerbrochenem Elternhaus. Tonya rebellierte- sie lief auf dem Eis mit blau lackierten Fingernägeln, oft zu Rockmusik, nähte ihre Kostüme selbst, und, obwohl das dem Verband nicht passte, musste man ihre Leistungen anerkennen. Weil sie die Beste war.Der Film ist hervorragend gemacht, in dem die Mutter zu Worte kommt (Schauspielerin, meine ich), die anderen, als würde man sie interviewen und Margot Robbie als Tonya nimmt selbst Stellung ein, was geschah. Ihr Leben war nicht leicht und das zeigt der Film, auch, wenn sie im Film selbst mit dem Zuschauer spricht- fand ich super gemacht.Es brachte mir alles sehr nahe und ich langweilte mich nie- wobei denn? Die Story ist ihr Leben und wirklich interessant- der prügelnde Ehemann, etc.- wer wirklich in diesen Fall eintauchen will, wird hier absolut bestens bedient und Margot Robbie als Tonya ist eine Top-Wahl gewesen.Der Film hat auch bittere und leicht heitere Szenen, wenn die Mutter dominiert und es lässt einen bitteren Beigeschmack zurück, daß sie sogar beim ersten Date der Tochter unbedingt dabei sein will, allein schon die Kommunikation mit anderen Kindern auf dem Eis verbietet usw.

I, TONYA beweist eindrucksvoll, dass die unglaublichsten und aberwitzigsten Geschichten das Leben selbst schreibt.Ich muss gestehen – wenige Filme haben mich in letzter Zeit annähernd so gut unterhalten wie es I, TONYA gelungen ist…. obschon ich mit Eiskunstlauf normalerweise absolut nichts am Hut habe sah ich, wie Millionen andere auch, 1994 das Drama von Lillehammer im Fernsehen, schlichtweg, weil die Namen Tonya Harding und Nancy Kerrigan damals in aller Munde waren.Die Inszenierung von I, TONYA ist schlichtweg grandios – unter Regie von Craig Gillespie ist ein Film entstanden, bei dem man permanent nicht weiß, ob man laut lachen oder bestürzt sein soll. Genauso widersprüchlich wie die in der Realität beteiligten Personen und deren Aussagen ist I, TONYA, und die Gangart wechselt oftmals zwischen brüllend komisch, tragisch und todernst. Gleichzeitig ist dieser Film natürlich auch eine Milieustudie, einerseits über die mitunter ziemlich verlogene Welt des Sports und andererseits über die Schattenseiten der amerikanischen Gesellschaft. Genau dies macht den Reiz dieses Films aus – I, TONYA vermag über die volle Distanz zu überraschen und hat immer wieder tolle Wendungen.Hinzu kommt natürlich, dass die erzählte Geschichte wirklich unglaublich ist – wenn sie sich nicht zumindest so ähnlich tatsächlich ereignet hätte! Gerade einige der unfassbarsten Aspekte der Handlung (z.B. der selten dämliche und komplett unfähige „Bodyguard “ von Harding, der sich selbst als Geheimagent und Experte in Terrorabwehr feierte) sind durchaus dokumentarisch belegt.Das Ensemble liefert eine ganz tolle Leistung ab, und es ist wirklich erstaunlich, wie intensiv Allison Janney die Mutter von Tonya Harding gibt - und Margot Robbie in der Hauptrolle ist ohnehin eine Wucht, sie versteht es sowohl, die witzigen wie ernsten Situationen toll rüberzubringen. Robbie gibt Harding sehr differenziert, und es fällt nach dem Film schwer, Harding nur als „die Eishexe“ oder White Trash auf Schlittschuhen zu sehen. Tonya Harding selbst ist nicht immer die Sympathieträgerin in diesem Film, aber man zeichnet sie hier zumindest als verdammt toughe Person, die sich Zeit ihres Lebens permanent gegen viele Widerstände durchsetzen muss… und die eben nicht ganz unschuldig, aber auch in Vielem ein Opfer ist, sei es der Gesellschaft, der Umstände, ihres mitunter unsäglichen Umfeldes und ihrer nicht weniger unsäglichen Erziehung.Die Gags und Sprüche sitzen (vor allem, weil die Figuren immer wieder die vierte Wand durchbrechen), und die emotionalen Szenen gehen richtig unter die Haut... und mitunter kann man nur fassungslos den Kopf über all das schütteln.Keine Frage: über den Wahrheitsgehalt mancher Szenen kann man lange streiten – dies liegt aber in der Natur der Sache. I, TONYA wird aber allenthalben bescheinigt, zumindest erstaunlich nah an der Realität zu sein. Schön wäre es allerdings gewesen, auch ein bisschen mehr Nancy Kerrigans Sichtweise zu erleben, diese wird wie ich finde bedauerlicherweise ziemlich unter den Tisch gekehrt.Alles in allem: I, TONYA ist definitiv ein Film, den man sich ansehen sollte – abseits der Dutzendware wurde hier ein bemerkenswerter Film vorgelegt, dessen Geschichte man kaum glauben möchte… wenn sie nicht (zumindest größtenteils) wahr wäre.

A film that I have had on my watchlist and in my blu-ray collection for a while after missing it at the cinema. I, Tonya is a biographic focusing on competitive ice skater Tonya Harding’s (Margot Robbie) rise amongst the ranks of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. However her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband (Sebastian Stan) intervenes.I, Tonya takes the typical biopic structure and presentation and feeds it through a Scorsese/Tarantino-esque fourth wall breaking machine to give it an energetic and punk rock edge and uniqueness. The fourth wall breaking style is very common in biopics now and I, Tonya uses it just enough and at effective times so it doesn’t become over reliant and repetitive. The story itself is told through different perspectives of the main characters, this does mean the film does get slightly unfocused at times and the frequent time jumping does become slightly jarring.I did appreciate how the film balances its plots, focusing on Tonya’s career and her personal family and friends lives. The film is sharply written with some biting dramatic moments and painfully honest emotional moments as well as being funnier and wittier than most full on comedies.From a technical perspective the film is impressive. The way the aspect ratio and filters over the footage gives the film a distinct and documentary style to the interviews and allows the rest of the story to look even more cinematic. The choreography and cinematography for the skating sequences is very well done and the camera follows every movement making it tense as well as calm and easy to follow. There are various creative editing techniques throughout and the film has a consistent pace that is never dull over the 2 hour runtime. The soundtrack for this film is a huge standout as well featuring classic tracks from rock, punk & pop spanning the 60’s/70’s/80’s & early 90’s. Each track works perfectly for the scene it is implemented in.The performances here are brilliant. Margot Robbie completely immersed herself in the role of Tonya Harding, altering her accent and having a significant change in her physical appearance for the role. When you see the footage of the actual Tonya as the credits role you really see how accurate Robbie was. Sebastian Stan probably gives the best performance I have seen him in here. He is a ticking time bomb of foul language and abuse as Tonya’s ex-husband despite being obsessed and painfully in love with her. Allison Janney is in the intimidating and biting role of Tonya’s mother, she has an intense screen presence and an icy aura. Paul Walter Hauser gives a great comedic turn as Tonya’s bodyguard who can’t accept the fact that he really isn’t needed and helps cause the downward spiral of her career.I, Tonya is a very entertaining and engaging biopic which stands out with its attitude, fourth wall breaking dialogue and brilliant cast that have great chemistry. The film may still not escape the typical biopic trappings and a repetitive structure, but that doesn’t stop it being a definite watch.

Didn't like this film very disapointed

wasnt impressed with this at all, a lot of smoking, swearing , no wasnt keen at all. but my viewing requirements may be different to yours