I, Tonya

It should be impossible really, to make a film that is so damn funny but still retains its humanity and sharp insight into this spangly, satin-swathed American tragedy.  I, Tonya (Gillespie 2017) manages to balance moments of out loud, snorting comedy with dark drama on a razor sharp skate's edge.  The comedy buoys the drama, and elevates it — and the drama serves as a springboard to the comedy.  Nearly impossible, this is the cinematic equivalent of Tonya's signature triple axel.

Who can help but like girl-of-the-moment Margot Robbie?  Beautiful, talented, Australian... this girl has it all!  But still, seeing the early previews I was unconvinced she could pull off Tonya's complexity —  the dedicated, graceful skater and the 90s poster child of poor white trash; the victim and the villain.  Then the accolades came rolling in, including Golden Globe and SAG nominations, and just last week a nod from the Academy.  And for good reason, she's not lost in her portrayal of Tonya a là Cherlize Theron's in Monster (Jenkins 2003), she somehow manages to keep that little slice of Margot which serves this character very well, as it makes Tonya more likable, which is absolutely crucial here.

That damn bird

Allison Janney is her usual wonderful self, at times not so much breaking the 4th wall in this mockumentary, as smashing it to bits.  As Tonya's caustic, abusive mother, she is as outrageous and she is odious. Allison Janney you are brave and you are brilliant.

Bumbling crooks, a villainous mother, a flawed but gifted heroine‚ this was a story just waiting to be told, Hollywood gold.  But without director Craig Gillespie's dexterous ability to tease out the emotionality behind the tabloid headlines, strong performances by the ensemble cast, and a crackling script by Steven Rogers, I, Tonya would be just another biopic.  Instead I, Tonya is a triumph.