Movies: I, Tonya

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - Figure skating is a very competitive sport, sometimes too competitive it seems. In the year 1994 the US figure skating society had a scandal: Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding got a live-long suspension from her sports because of an alleged attack on her rival & Olympic team mate Nancy Kerrigan. The movie "I, Tonya" tells her story (imdb).

The comedy-drama looks like a TV show with a lot staged interviews and flashbacks. I cared about Tony, a redneck girl, who got drilled & bred by a white trash and hyper-ambitious mother and chose an abusive boyfriend & husband with dubious friends. The reckless & moronic behavior of some characters reminded me of the movie "Fargo" even though the story lines are very different. The film had some awesome figure skating scenes - with the help of visual effects and CG - and gained a lot from its soundtrack of 80s pop songs.

Three actresses made the film remarkable: Allison Janney as the hyper-tough "tiger" mother (wikipedia ) will linger in my memory for a while, Margot Robbie, incarnated convincingly the leading character, and I also enjoyed Julianne Nicholson as her sympathetic coach. You might love the movie if you are in biopics and well acted movies.