I, Tonya 2017

     Former competitive figure skater Tonya Harding always knew she wanted to be an ice skater and she started lessons at the age of 4 years old.  She was born in November 1970, her dad left and her mother LaVona raised her.  LaVona was a waitress and all her money went to the skating lessons.  Tonya started to rise up in the ranks but the skating world never really accepted her.  She was poor and supposedly from the wrong side of the tracks?  She dropped out of high school to skate and in 1991 at the age of 21 she was the second woman to successfully land a triple axel in competitions. Midori Lto was also able to do this maneuver at the age of eight in 1977.  Tonya’s career started to fall apart on January 6, 1994.  Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Fillooly and her bodyguard Shawn Eckhardt hired Shane Stant to break Nancy Kerrigan’s right leg to take her out of the 1994 Winter Olympics.

     This film was nothing like I thought it would be?  Initially, I wasn’t interested in seeing this film until I saw the ratings seemed to be so high?  There is a LOT of good music and fantastic acting by Robbie and Janney.  The skating scenes are good too.  It was interesting how Tonya wasn’t able to overcome her background and be judged only on her skills?  What does her family and her persona have to do with how she can skate?  One of the judges said she didn't represent the image they want to portray?  4* (I really liked this movie)

120 min, Bio directed by Craig Gillespie with Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janey, Julianne Nicholson, Paul Walter Hauser, Bobby Canavale, Bojana Novakovic, Caitlin Carve r, Maizie Smith, McKenna Grace, Suehyla El-Attar, Jason Davis, Mea Allen, Cory Chapman, Amy Fox.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 89% critic 88% audience on Rotten Tomaotes, Roger Ebert 3 ½*, Metacritic 77 out of 100 with 47 critics 7.8 out of 10 with 286 reviews, Guardian Mark Kermode 4* of 5*, Amazon 4.1* of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Macon, Atlanta, Decatur, Georgia.  Allison Janney filmed her role in eight days.  Janney had seriously trained to become a figure skater throughout her childhood and teen years.  At the age of 17 she accidentally walked into a sliding glass door and seriously injured her right leg.  Robbie trained extensively for her role but she was not able to perform a tipple axel.  Her skating double was not able to do this either.  Only six women since Tonya have done a triple axel and the jump was accomplished using visual effects.