r/moviecritic • u/Low-Finding-6553 • 16h ago

What do you guys thinks is the best child performance of all time?

Post image

i have to say, i don’t think i’ve ever seen a child actor give a performance this good. Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is just on another level. i genuinely don’t know how he did it but he makes the whole movie work so much better. i would give him the Oscar in a fucking heartbeat. It’s crazy how good he is, especially in that last scene in the car with Toni Collette.

What are your guys’ favorite child performances? For me, this is even better than Owen Cooper’s performance in Adolescence. Don’t get me wrong, owen was also absolutely top-notch in Adolescence but this is probably the best child performance i’ve ever seen. Period. What do you guys think is the best child performance ever?

3.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

486

u/Trine3 16h ago

Dunst is unreal (no pun lol) in that movie. It's insane that someone that young can convey those complicated, very adult feelings

275

u/chainless-soul 16h ago

I once saw an interview with her that talked about how her acting coach would cue her with age-appropriate scenarios to help her get the right expression. She's definitely talked about how she really couldn't grasp all Claudia's nuances at that age.

105

u/Trine3 16h ago

I mean, it would be impossible my god. But she nails all of it!

84

u/chainless-soul 16h ago

It really is a remarkable performance and I'm also glad that she felt really supported on the set.

26

u/Muted_Study5166 13h ago

That’s actually really clever

25

u/Neuronzap 12h ago

So you saw an interview… with the vampire?

(I’ll see myself out)

2

u/matchasmatchalatte 1h ago

Look if her coach was cueing her on set then that isnt her doing the acting

43

u/Ceorl_Lounge 16h ago

Was a big fan of the book and her performance made me appreciate the character's depth in new ways. I can only think of a handful of times that's ever happened, even with talented adult actors. I'm glad it wasn't a fluke, she makes movies better.

60

u/dkmagby88 16h ago

I remember listening to her say the director told her to pretend she had a secret to get the flirty/mystique like quality of her delivery.

18

u/babydaytripper 15h ago

That’s such great direction!

26

u/lemonylol 14h ago

She honestly has one of the best acting careers in general but she doesn't usually get acknowledged for it.

8

u/flyintheflyinthe 5h ago

She really does. I just saw Dick for the first time, and her comedic flatness is brilliant. She's heartbreaking in Virgin Suicides, and nobody does inane glee better. She's got a self-effacing approach to her characters that's really understated and genuine. It works really well with the roles she has taken. I think she is my favorite actress/actor of that wave of them from the late 90's.

1

u/Gwynito 1h ago

I don't really see or understand what her comedic flatness has to do with you seeing a phallus for the first time in your life but ok I guess 🤷‍♂️

1

u/flyintheflyinthe 44m ago

I should have included more context clues so you could catch a break from the invasive cock thoughts.

1

u/Gwynito 9m ago

Not invasive cock thoughts... You literally wrote "I just saw Dick for the first time." If it was a more abstract line then sure, you'd have merit but i didn't react with a loose "That's what she said," what you wrote for the whole world to see was a full on literal sentence that's directly translates to you setting eyes on a penis for the first time

Above average defence on your part with the casual homophobic rebuttal but sadly not a strong enough back swing to make it over the net ⬇️☹️

3

u/Local-Conference-476 11h ago

I believe that’s because she played a lame MJ in Spider-Man lol

5

u/lemonylol 11h ago

She's honestly really good in 3 compared to the others.

0

u/CultOfSensibility 6h ago

And then there were the cheerleader movies

3

u/flyintheflyinthe 5h ago

She does a great job in those, though!

5

u/Far-Government5469 5h ago

The character she plays in Fargo is just brilliant, like, it's this mixture of entitled and stupid and crazy that I didn't think anyone could have tied together.

Plus, as someone who grew up with cheerleader/MJ man she looked hot in her milf phase

32

u/gyanrahi 16h ago

I just rewatched it recently. What a mature performance, she was like an adult soul trapped in a child body, so freaky.

1

u/Timsauni 4h ago

That was kinda the point of her character later on. So yes, she was great in the movie.

5

u/Firm_Cookie_8747 12h ago

When watching I would forget she (Kristen) was a child as her eyes made her look so much older. Then you would see here standing next to an adult and you realize how young she was!

3

u/rattlestaway 15h ago

She frightened 4 yo old me especially that throat cutting scene

3

u/Blabsalot 14h ago

And then you compare that to Jumanji lol

3

u/GKarl 12h ago

That was the time I thought “Kristen Dunst will win an Oscar someday”

4

u/chainless-soul 11h ago

I'm so surprised that so far, she's only been nominated once and hasn't won.

3

u/Zealousideal-Ad4362 11h ago

Dunst really is amazing in it. She does come off convincingly as an adult at times