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Sludge 
"Charlie Don't Serf!"
United States
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 Posted - 29/12/2017 : 12:14:55
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I think this is a masterpiece.
Constructed of what Tonya Harding and her ex husband Jeff Gillooly said in separate interviews, it goes to extra lengths to say where they diverge and what they agree upon. Natural parallels have already been drawn between this film and the 2008 Tyson documentary.
I'd extend that to 2010's "The Fighter": I, Tonya also offers the prism of our collective memory with that of the participants and rightfully shames us for at least some of it.
Margot Robby and Sebastian Stand deliver as the constantly feuding leads. Alysson Janey is hardly recognizable as Tonya's unapologetically abusive (and, later, opportunistic) mother. Lesser known Paul Walter Hauser nails it as Tonya's deluded "security guard" who (also unapologetically) destroyed two careers.
The story telling avoids the cliche buildup of a pure rivalry between two skaters. Nancy Kerrigan is peripheral, even after the attack. Instead, this is largely about Tonya, those who surround her, and a transparently corrupt system for ensuring who skates in the Olympics.
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I, Tonya (2017)
