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Date: 1/25/2018
What I watched this week was two current films with strong female leads.
In Theaters: I, Tonya
The story of Tonya Harding and how a talented skater that made it to the Olympic against many odds wound up as the punch line for a joke is the subject of this mock documentary that is compelling, sad and funny, all at the same time.
It is an essential American story and if one event hadn’t taken place Harding would be celebrated to this day. Her life had all of the elements people love: she started skating at age three, overcame an abusive mother and poverty to dedicate herself to skating and flourished despite the bias used against her by skating judges.
The problem is that Harding wasn’t too stable herself and made some very bad choices, such as marrying her first boyfriend Jeff Gillooly (played with both sincerity and oiliness by Sebastian Stan) who abused her. Gillooly had a delusional friend named Scott who paid two goons to “take out” Harding’s chief competitor Nancy Kerrigan so Harding would have an easier journey to the Olympic team in 1994.
The “hit” was supposed to break Kerrigan’s leg, but it only bruised it and the subsequent arrest of the hit man ruined Harding’s life, who maintained she had no idea her ex-husband was planning anything.
Director Craig Gillespie based his film on hours of interviews of the primary characters – Harding, her mother and Gillooly, among others – and the result is one of the most unique bio pics I’ve seen in a long time.
For Margot Robbie, who plays Harding from age 15 and up, this is a tour de force. Harding is a complicated character, someone who only knows one thing and does it remarkably well. She is the object of terrible abuse, but constantly fights back. She knows the odds are stacked against her, but she ignores them.
Robbie, who was last seen in “Suicide Squad” as Harley Quinn, knows this role is a game changer and gives it her all as does Allison Janney as Harding’s mother, a person so repellant that she may become one of the great villains of the cinema – a real monster.
The film isn’t apologetic and says right up front there will be contradictions from the testimony of those involved. That approach adds an almost journalistic tone to it.
This is an Oscar contender with Robbie and Janney easy shoe-ins for nominations. They both deserve it. I think Harding, who has told The New York Times she thought the film was “magnificent,” has deserved having her story told again.
Molly’s Game
Speaking of Oscar contention, here should be another nominee for best actress, Jessica Chastain for the lead role in “Molly’s Game,” another true story based on the autobiography of the same name.
Chastain plays Molly Bloom, a skier on her way to the Olympics until a freak accident puts her out of contention. She takes a job with a real estate developer as his assistant and soon finds she also has to manage his weekly underground high stakes poker game in Los Angeles.
Bloom, who is very smart, learns all she can about poker and the guys sitting around the table. When her boss decides she is an expense he can do without, she is fired, but Bloom has an ace up her sleeve: armed with information, she creates her own game and steals her boss’s players.
Although she lives within the letter of the law and makes millions, she is eventually forced out herself and goes to New York City where she starts a new game.
The story, told in flashback, is framed by her arrest by the FBI and her subsequent legal battle. Although those elements are important, the film’s heart is about how Bloom has been formed as a person by her experiences growing up, especially with her father.
Chastain is joined by a great cast, including Idris Elba as her attorney and Kevin Costner as her father. The film marks the feature film director debut of writer Aaron Sorkin, who presents his multi-layered script in a fine fashion.
A great character study, “Molly’s Game” should be on your radar.