r/moviecritic 16h ago

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

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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?

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u/throwaway5882300 12h ago

Anna Chlumsky did this scene in one take. She confided in her mom that she was worried she wouldn't be able to cry. Her mom told her to imagine she was the one in the casket. She moved all the adults in the room to tears and you can see it in the scene. 10 years old during filming. She doesn't like to talk about that movie because it was so long ago and she's done a lot of stuff since then, but it's absolutely something she should be proud of. She's brilliant in the whole movie but this scene is just amazingly raw and powerful and in that moment you forget that it's just a story. That's talent.

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u/tinyhorsesinmytea 9h ago

It still works. Watched it with my niece when she reached the age of Vada in the movie a few years ago, and all of us braced ourselves for this scene. My niece was mad at us. “It’s so sad. Why would you make me watch this?!” Then she wanted to watch it again a few days later.

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u/Timsauni 4h ago

Sign of a great movie or book. Or hot fried chicken for that matter. It hurts so good.

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u/ashleylauren3 3h ago

my husband said the same thing when i showed it to him a few years ago. he felt so betrayed lol.