I, Tonya [DVD] [2018]

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.

Fast delivery, excellent fulm, true story, top acting, cheap as chips.

Decent movie

Liked it. I had a vague recollection of this story so it was interesting to see these versions. Liked the comic elements to lighten a dark life story. Great acting all round.

I thought margot robbie put in a good performance as Tonya harding an ice skater who had it all and lost it all, very good acting and performances and shows that margot robbie is a good actress with a lot of potential... I would recommend this film and i would tell people to watch it..

Good movie...just a lot of swearing

Not a bad movie, acted well andboughtbas a present but watched it to the end so not as bad as other movies

Powerful story. Reveals what lies beneath the headlines.