My, my, my...how quickly our dear Angela Chase has grown into a woman. Claire Danes, whose 14-year-old crimson-flocked mane is so infamously burned into our collective memory from "My So-Called Life," won the Emmy this year for her performance as Temple Grandin. She deserves more awards.
Temple Grandin is the autistic livestock engineer whose designs have changed the entire scope of the livestock industry. She thinks in pictures and has an amazing mind unlike any other. The movie, made for HBO and originally aired last year, is executed in a fantastic fashion. Visual cues and sound effects editing are orchestrated to parallel the chaotic mind of Temple herself, and the scheme really works.
Most impressive of all is Temple herself, of course, but Claire Danes is right up there with the autistic genius. The actress has never been better. She disappears into Temple's skin and masters her mannerisms, a true feat for a famous face playing someone with a mental handicap (Sean Penn in "I Am Sam" represents the opposite end of the successful "full retard" spectrum...I stole that term from "Tropic Thunder," btw). Never does her performance veer into parody territory, this despite being frequently hilarious (as many autistic people are). While consistently funny, "Temple Grandin" is also straight-up inspirational, so pack the tissues, people.
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| The real Temple Grandin and Claire Danes in costume |
I cannot recommend "Temple Grandin" highly enough. It's so rare for a biopic with a big star (especially one who chews the scenery as much as Danes in this one) that's also an inspirational crowd-pleasure to actually be successful, but this one succeeds on every level. It's one of the very best made-for-television films I've ever seen. It's on DVD now, available from the library (love it!), Videorama, Netflix or Redbox. Get on it!
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