Yesterday I spent the day at Kendall
Square Cinema. It was magic.
You know you've had a good day at the movies when I, TONYA is the worst movie you saw. Because it is a freaking miracle on ice. It was SO GOOD. Margot Robbie is a dream. I went with my friends the Chardonnay family. When she first showed up on screen, my goddaughter Mimosa said, “Well, she's no Charlize Theron in MONSTER..." Which is accurate. She didn't ugly-up for this role. But the difference in her appearance between young Tonya and present-day Tonya is striking.
Her slightly thickened neck is the best bit of neck acting since Jessica Chastain screamed at Coach Taylor in ZERO DARK THIRTY.
She is pure Tonya, though. And this
movie gave layers to a story everybody thought they knew. Well, I
didn't know, I had a new baby and wasn't paying attention. I didn't
care about figure skating. But I care now! The cinematography in the
skating scenes had me breathing heavy. Not in a creepy way, but
because it felt so immediate. The scene where Tonya lands the first
triple-Lindy or whatever it's called was the greatest moment of
sports triumph I have ever seen on screen.
There were some tremendous supporting players, too. Allison Janney is getting a lot of press, but saying Allison Janney deserves an Oscar is like saying Allison Janney breathes oxygen. She should be rewarded just for getting out of bed in the morning. The scene in JUNO when she snaps at the ultrasound tech makes me burst into tears every time.
Who the heck is Julianne Nicholson? I
know her face and she has been in a ton of shows I have probably
half-watched on TV, but I couldn't have pulled her out of a lineup
before this movie. She gave an extraordinarily restrained performance
in a movie where virtually no one else had any restraint at all. She
was magnificent.
Sebastian Stan was Bucky Barnes! Again,
I had a vague feeling that I had seen him before, but couldn't have
said where. He played Jeff Gillooly who was a very complex character
in spite of being essentially a dull-witted goof. He played sweet at
the beginning of the Jeff/Tonya relationship – so much so that the
first time he slammed her face made me rear back in my seat. And the
calm, almost anesthetized manner of modern-day Jeff was an entirely
different animal. Just so good.
 |
| SO FREAKING PUNCHABLE!!! |
About two thirds of the way through the movie I just started muttering “Punch his face. Punch his stupid face.” I am a pacifist! I don't condone face punching. And yet Paul Walter Hauser as Shaun Eckhardt had the most punchable face in the history of faces. His blank stare and complete inalienable belief in his own completely fictitious achievements worked so beautifully that, well, were he to have appeared before me, I would have punched first and asked questions later. Probably questions like, “Are you going to sue me because I clearly don't know the difference between actors and characters or how movies entirely work?” He was splendid, too.
I was going to review all three of the
movies I saw yesterday in one shot, but I think if I do that it will
be too obvious how often I rely on the word “marvelous” when I am
impressed with performances. So I am going to go have a refreshing
beverage and watch either season one of MASTERS OF SEX or SAVING MR.
BANKS. I hear the plots are essentially identical.
Next up THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE
EBBING, MISSOURI and LADYBIRD.
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