DVD REVIEW: TEMPLE GRANDIN

This had some worthwhile performances and overall the movie was intriguing, but I'm not sure if I'd give it the high praise that this review (and the Emmy people) saw fit to bestow. Danes does fine work, and her performance is interesting. At times she manages to make Temple fairly relatable, and you can empathize with her difficulty in dealing with people who might pick on her for her differences. Also, as a fan of hamburgers but an enemy of animal cruelty, I had to admire her dedication to seeing that cows met their end in a calm and dignified fashion. Her quest to save the cows from hardship is where the movie really began to come alive. The rest of it was very much biopic by the numbers. While that can be interesting on a scene by scene basis, it felt like the movie was just plodding along till it had ticked off enough bullet points on it's 'TEMPLE GRANDIN LIFE STORY' rubric to roll credits and call it a day. Now, it *is* HBO, so they managed to rope in top tier actors like Mr Strathairn to bring life to interesting if underwritten bit parts, but IMHO the film was hurt when those characters would pretty much disappear from the movie without warning. Strathairn's character in particular meets with an ignominious end, dieing off screen. When Temple learns of his passing, she seems quizzical but less than upset. The whole movie is full of things like that, no brainer plot points that end up carrying less weight than they should.

As for Danes' performance, she did good work. I'm a long time fan of hers, and for the most part, she did the impossible and managed to make Temple a character in whose company you were not constantly irritated and annoyed. Sadly, much like a real life autistic person, that can only go so far. You can admire someone, and be there cheering them on hoping beyond hope that they'll succeed, but by the 15th time they scream and crawl into a "squeeze box", you can't help but find it aggravating and tiresome. I know that this is the experience that parents and associates of the Autistic deal with every day, and in that respect I can understand that the movie is only being faithful to what Temple must really have been like.. but still, it's hard for the audience's patience not to be tried when the film's main character loudly flips out at the drop of a hat. I don't say that to be cruel, just to be honest about one of my main complaints about the film

Anyway, it was an interesting tale well told (if not necessarily a brilliant film), and I'm glad I saw it. I was going to start a thread for it a few days ago but neglected to, so I'm glad that this thoughtful and well written DVD review affords me that opportunity instead


EDIT: Also, just have to say I thought it was cool to see a film with a female lead that had no love story/romance grafted onto the narrative. Temple was just doing her own thing with the cows, and it was kind of refreshing that the only interpersonal relationships she had with the other characters were ones that resulted from her interests (cows/science ETC) and not her sexuality