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"Temple Grandin" and "Snow Cake."

Just finished watching "Temple Grandin." First and foremost Claire Danes TOTALLY needs an award. It's one of those performances where you completely forget who the actor is and just get wrapped up in the character. Same thing with Sigourney Weaver's performance in "Snow Cake," though that film was more artsy than accurate I felt.

"Snow Cake" being an indie film - and I do love indie films, I really do - does tend to highlight certain quirks for the sake of looking, well, quirky and artistic.

"Temple Grandin" was far more interested in telling an accurate story. Sometimes that makes for a rather boring movie (hence, the director's temptation to take some artistic liberties). In this case, the story stands on its own without the extra bells and whistles. "Snow Cake" was a story that included an Autistic character. My advice; don't go into that one thinking it will be a movie about Autism. There is a lot more to enjoy about the film, including an early plot twist that makes the film not at all what you think it's going to be about. Love that in movies!

"Temple Grandin" on the other hand centers around the Autistic character and how she sees and interacts with the world. Kudos to the director for bringing the audience into that world by over-emphasizing certain sounds, by 'seeing' a scene in pictures the way Temple does. I'm definitely more 'high functioning' than her (or at least as she's portrayed in the film). But boy could I relate. Pictures of faces in various states of emotion to learn what they mean, the frustration of being around a large group, say at a party, and knowing there are dozens more levels of communication going on that I don't get.

And most inspiring of all, learning to channel Autism into our natural superpowers; 'seeing' in a way most people don't, which kind of takes the edge off of all the ways they 'see' that we'll never quite understand.

Tags: Asperger, Autism, Cake, Grandin, Sigourney, Snow, Temple, Weaver

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on May 1, 2010 at 6:36am

I'm really looking forward to seeing "Temple Grandin". I saw a trailer, possibly on The Daily Show. It looked good.

Have you seen the Thai film "Chocolate", about an autistic girl who is able to master martial arts styles just by watching them?

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on May 1, 2010 at 6:23pm

Weird you mention "Chocolate." I just saw a recommendation for it on Netflix. Will definitely check it out!

Also really loved one of the heroes on "Heroes" whose superpower was that she sees someone do something and can mimic/master it. Like play the piano, or beat the crap out of a bad guy.

Kind of an interesting power to have!

Permalink Reply by Aggiememenon on January 11, 2012 at 9:41pm

_Mozart & The Whale_ was also pretty good; based on a true story...a romantic drama about two Aspies...the real people the story is based upon got married, divorced, and then re-married.

The Temple Grandin movie was great, and I agree, Clare Danes deserves an Academy Award.

I sometimes wonder about Irish comedian Dylan Moran, wonder if he could be "one of us". Character Bernard Black of the BBC's series _BLACK BOOKS_ is of course a caricature, but I do think Moran poured a lot of himself into that character. I've seen some of Dylan's early stand-up and he looks VERY uncomfortable on stage but he's witty and has enough verbal dexterity to make himself funny and self-deprecating. I've read (on IMDB) that he really dislikes giving interviews and keeps to himself and doesn't like press attention paid to him or his family. I've seen footage of him doing a Q&A with an Australian audience after a screening of the Irish indy film "A Film With Me In It" where Moran plays supporting character "Pierce". Dylan again looking VERY uncomfortable...the audience seated way too close to him...he can't make eye contact with them and just looks off into space when answering....it takes (several) glasses of wine later before he can bear to start looking in their direction... Just pure speculation on my part, and I don't know if there's an Aspie equivalent to "gaydar" but if so mine is "pinging" on Dylan Moran....(and I LOVED the series Black Books)

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