8A - Monday, December 3, 2012

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4 w _ The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

8A - Monday, December 3, 2012 A its The Michigan Daily- michigandailycom

TV/NEW MEDIA COLUMN
How Claire Danes,
became unstoppable

FILM REVIEW
resh-paced thrills

For two years, Claire
Danes has been invin-
cible. Since 2010, she
has been nominated for nine
significant awards (two Emmys,
two Satellites,_
two Golden
Globes,
one SAG,
one Critics'
Choice and
one Televi-
sion Critics
Association) KAYLA
for her roles UPADHYAYA
in the HBO
biopic "Tem-
ple Grandin" and Showtime's
thriller "Homeland."
She won all nine.
I first discovered Danes in
seventh grade. I was at a friend's
house watching TeenNick - my
family only had basic cable at
the time, so this was a big deal -
when "My So-Called Life" came
on. As unpolished and bluff as a
middle schooler's diary, "Life"
was unlike any of the moralizing
teen shows I watched at the time
("Boy Meets World" and "7th
Heaven" beingsome of the worst
offenders of twisting adolescence
into'romanticized parables).
I caught episodes sporadically,
unable to watch the series from
start to finish until Netflix came
around, but even in fragmented
pieces, I fell for Danes's Angela
Chase, who thought being a
woman meant dyeing her hair
without her mother's permis-
sion, wearing dark red lipstick
and dating boys who drink their
coffee black. I treasured Angela's
striking, star-crossed friend-
ship with Rayanne, like Angela
clutching Tarot cards close to
her heart.
Much of MSCL's charm came
from its emotionally honest writ-
ing and characters, but Danes
was its beating heart, her natural
delivery - full of "ums," "likes"
and uneven pauses - injecting
Angela with truth.
We've quite literally watched
Danes grow up on our TV
screens. She was only 15 years
old when she won her first Gold-
en Globe for Best Lead Actress in
a Drama in 1995, and she beat out
contenders with well more than
double her experience. In her
acceptance speech, she was as
plain-spoken as Angela, but for-
got to thank her parents. Which
is why, 17 years later, she was
sure to thank them right away
when she accepted the same
exact award for her performance
as the charged and discerning
Carrie Mathison in "Homeland."
I told you - Claire Danes knows
how to win awards.
Nowadays, every TV critic
worth his or her salt is head-
over-heels for her, but this wasn't
always the case. For a brief
period in the late '90s, Danes
was incredibly unpopular among
critics and TV lovers, but it had
nothing to do with her talent.
When it became apparentthat
"My So-Called Life" was facing
cancellation, news soon followed
that Danes had approached the

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rk to say that she did not confronting their nuances with
o continue being apart of teeth.
oject. A group of fervent I don't relate to Carrie as I did
f the series formed Opera- with Angela, but that doesn't
ife Support, which circu- mean I'm any less drawn to the
asty emails criticizing character. Both are incredibly
for her perceived role in well written. Women who are
ow's demise. One particu- unstable and yet maintain a
nflammatory e-mail boast- sense of agency can be hard to
subject line "CLAIRE find on TV, and both Angela and
S BRINGS DEATH TO Carrie strike the balance. But .
. the force that emanates from
004, Danes admitted in an both characters can't be chocked
iew with Entertainment up to writers'-room wizardry
y that she and her parents Somewhere between the words
sed her departure with the on the page and what we see on
creators, but Danes also our screens, Danes steps in and
d out an undeniable truth: works her trusty magic.
maged actor has the power She made the oft-impossible
t downa series. "Life" was bound from teen star to virtuoso
ing from weak ratings, and and has enjoyed an exceptional
the network became aware longevity similar to that.of
anes might not be inter- Winona Ryder. In fact, the now-
n continuing on a fled- defunct Sassy Magazine once
project, she became the referred to her as the "next Win-
oat. The flame war waged ona Ryder," and the two sparked
t her was unfair and ulti- a close friendship after working
ypointless. on "Little Women" together.
Like Ryder, Danes has becomea
familiar face.
All of the But her familiarity isn't what
makes her the best act on televi-
wards sionright now. Actors who get
too locked into a particular role
iterally, for or performance don't last. The
greats are consistent but still
laire Danes. unpredictable. And there's noth-
ing stagnant about Danes's tra-
jectory. She's constantly evolving
as an actor, not only fresh
tunately, despite the role-to-role, but week-to-week.
, Danes didn't fade. Angela Sometimes, as in "Homeland"'sa
arrie are staggering book- "Q&A," even scene-to-scene.
or Danes's TV career so Without really realizing it,
d in between she has done I've been following Danes's
elt and rich work, the most career longer than any other
e being her multifaceted actor. I keep my ever-growing
manding portrayal of magazine collection on display
e Grandin. on built-in bookshelves in my
ny actors have risen to the room, one section set aside for
nge of portraying autistic issues particularly important
duals (even Danes's hus- to me. Sitting right next to the
Hugh Dancy, who played September 2012 issue of the New
ular characterof 2009's York Times Style Magazine with
i"). Danes and the writ- Claire Danes on its cover is a
"Temple Grandin" take 1995 issue of Sassy, which fea-
hing we know about the tures a short essay by 16-year-old
ion of autism in film - Danes.
e biopic genre, for that "You wouldn't believe the
- and throw it out the challenge it is to understand
w, yielding delightfully that it's OK to be successful," she
timental work that moves writes. "I wonder all the time
iled strokes rather than what it is about me that people
ing emotional cues. Danes respond to. Things have con-
t rely solely on the physi- tinued to progress for me since
of the role, takinga metic- 'My So-Called Life,' but there's
approach to the character. always the fear that it will all go
es, I wanted to stand up away."
plaud. Eighteen years after "My So-
re are moments when a Called Life," Danes is still giving
of Angela Chase flashes exciting little gifts. In "Home-
the screen as I'm watch- land"'s season two premiere,
omeland"... most often there's a brief moment - a smile,
tear-filled scenes. In all to be exact - so stripped down,
years, no one has come so potent that I was once again
o challenging Danes's seducedy Danes's magnetism.
as the Best Crier on TV. The moment - one of the best
some ways, Angela and on television this fall - was
are bizarrely similar - undoubtedlyscripted, but again,
Angela was scared of there's only so much credit we
perceiving her as young can give to the writers. Simple,
significant, Carrie's fear telling, radiant, that smile is
she might never shed Danes's magic.

Slasher porn 'The
Collection' doesn't
take itself seriously
By ANDREW MCCLURE
Daily Arts Writer
Tea or coffee, iPhone or
Android, pornography or "7th
Heaven"? Decisions with mutu-
ally exclusive
and collectively B
exhaustive
options inun- UlP
date our daily Co.let
lives. One could
unflinchingly At Quality16
reject "The and Rave
Collection" as
a bloodbath- LD
ing, talentless,
sadistic exhibit. That'd be too
easy, because he or she would be
100 percent correct.
But films of this "Like, are you
serious?" nature actually accom-
plish a fundamental task of going
to the movies: They manifest
entertainment value.
In "The Collection," sicko-
genius director Marcus Dun-
stan ("Saw 3D") doesn't deviate
from his usual fucked-up genre:
blood, tits and bloody tits. His
Rotten Tomatoes profile is
devoid of a picture and a bio, and
his filmography holds a consis-
tently "rotten" appraisal. Still,
he doubtlessly succeeds here in
unconventional ways with sat-
ire, Shooter McGavin with boy-
ish, blonde locks and high-octane
lensing that beautifully depicts
the gross-out fest.
Elena (played amateurishly by
rookie Emma Fitzpatrick) and
two friends head to an under-
ground nightclub -youknow,the
one guarded by a Mortal Kombat
character and located down 39
different alleyways. Dancing,
drugs and drinking ensue. Irrel-
evant to everything, Elena finds
her boyfriend, supposedly work-
ing overtime, sucking face with a

"I'LL NEVER GIVE YOU BACK THAT CHARIZARD CARD!"

random chick. Classic.
The focus then shifts to a bug-
eyed, leather-masked subhu-
man who presses a button that
mechanically locks all doors in
the club. Then a spinning spiked
wheel descends across the entire
dance floor. Splat. Elena sur-
vives, but is taken by The Collec-
tor, causing her wealthy father
(played with comical sincerity by
Christopher McDonald, "Happy
Gilmore") to assemble a merce-
nary team to retrieve her in an
abandoned hotel. Let the good
times roll.
A fair question to ask is: What
distinguishes this rubbish from
the "Saw" or "Hostel" series? In
many ways, all three are simi-
lar: the sadism, the superflu-
ous expletive counts, the failed
attempts at plot consolidation.
But "The Collection" delivers a
special component that brings it
freshness: the tempo. Once the
labyrinth odyssey begins, the
rest of the film balances painfully
slow, whispering moments with
the skull-crushing speeds of kill-
ing sequences. It works.
Too many people forget to
laugh at films like this. It's sup-
posed to happen. The writers
know it, the genre fans definitely
know it, but generally viewers
take splatter moyies too seriously.
This leads to an immediate dis-
counting of the film and "What
were the writers smoking?"

arguments. "The Collection"
is teeming with truly impres-
sive creativity. The abandoned
hotel, for instance, is rigged with
human-size mousetraps that all
serve the same purpose: drain
the victim of all blood. But it's not
the blood fountains that make or
break this film - blood is a given.
Let it make you cringe, scream,
barf and stuff your face into your
date's cleavage. But don't allow it
to make you disbelieve too much.
Remember: The creators are even
more aware of their film's objec-
tive, ridiculousness and lack of
believability. Movies, at their core,
transport oneself to an alterna-
tive world where different people,
events and meanings exist. Films
too often aren't self-aware. "The
Collection" knows exactly what
it is, how many statues it plans to
reel in and the eternal following
these movies retain.
When juggling between decid-
ing to see "The Collection," one
shouldn't juxtapose blood-ver-
sus-drama or gross-versus-clean.
Instead, think farce-versus-
comedy or satire-versus-blatant
LOL. It's a funhouse everyone
has nightmares about. In the
end, it's simply an inexplicably
Animorph-eyed dude wearing
an inexplicable leather mask who
inexplicably slaughters innocents
and inexplicably gets no joy out of
his inexplicable profession.
Have a sense of humor, stiff.

.

el of That Crazy Lady.
e both insecure and
dy, but Danes's perfor-
is nothing but graceful,

Upadhyaya is girl crushing
on Danes. To chat about it,
e-mail kaylau@umich.edu.

ALL THE BIRDS ARE MIGRATING.
FOLLOW US BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE.
@michdailyarts

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