One Way To Judge An Acting Performance

After a scene (and the entire movie), do you ever think "If that really happened and was captured on video, that's exactly the way it would look"?

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Not exactly sure where you're going, but usually if I think anything it's more along the line of, "Huh. That reaction seemed contrived." I don't think I'd question, "...if it was captured on video," as I would hope not to notice at all and just roll with it as if it's real life playing out.

I may be misreading you though. Any examples for reference?

EDIT:
This is all within the context of the scene/movie, of course. If the acting is realistic relative to whatever rules the story implies, then I'm good. It's all contextual.

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Not all films strive for realism and overacting might be as deliberate as keeping it restrained. Think of the mannequins of Bresson or German Expressionism. Rating a film or a performance by how close to reality it lands is, therefore, a pretty faulty criterium.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

^totally fair and I need to amend my reply

To answer your question literally: almost, never no.

I'm fine with that, though. For the most part I accept that it is inherent in the act of telling a story that you're telling someone something exceptional, both in subject matter and in execution.

Mostly I'm just really happy when someone remembers to say "bye" before hanging up a phone, or remembers to set a time and place to meet, and angry when they lift a phone to their head and you can plainly see it's just the phone's home screen.

I was actually thinking of a show I like, "Wanted: Dead Or Alive" with Steve McQueen.. He plays a bounty hunter whose prisoner has a bullet in his arm, which needs to be removed. Every time I see it (in this case, just thinking of that scene), I think "Wow, great acting".... He says, "I'll do the best I can". Any actor can memorize lines, but it's the way McQueen said it. He softens the tone of his voice, changing octaves, sounds uncomfortable what he has to do with limited tools being in the middle of nowhere.



After seeing it, I'd always think to myself, "Wow, that's exactly how I'd expect it" - say if there was a hidden camera taking video.. It's ironic because it was a TV sitcom, 22-minutes or so, and they have the tendency to be lean.. McQueen's eyes act better than many who overact or "ham" it up.. It's known that after Steve got a movie script, he'd take a marker and basically cross out the unnecessary dialogue, and didn't seem to have resistance.






There's so many cases similar to what you mention that bug me. They could be corrected so easily, with a minimal amount of observation by the director, etc..


To add, I notice in shows and movies (especially in the older days) how no one ever asks for the price of a drink (or anything else) at a bar or restaurant.. A man just says "Whiskey", drinks it, and throws a coin at the table, and walks out. No change returned, no asking for a bill, no waiter or bartender verifying it's the right amount.

Couple of scenes spring to mind of very uncomfortable reality.

The "Irreversible" rape scene, with Monica Bellucci

Also in "The Good Shepard", the scene where Michael Gambons old spy character is killed off screen and you can hear his gut wrenching screams, seemed all too realistic.

Just listen to those screams from 3.15 to 3.35, horrifying.



In terms of a full movie how about Jacob's Ladder, *SPOILERS* If you haven't seen it don't read next bit!



That doesn't exactly apply to your captured on video as such, but still, probably very close to reality.

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If this didn’t happen I would have bailed out of the movie PDQ. Movies, to me, are a suspension of my disbelief. At least temporarily I believe everything I see on screen. Mentioning tv for a moment, when I watched The Wire, for example, I had to remind myself that they were actors & not real people. I always have to believe in the characters.

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What is PDQ?

Pretty damn quick.

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The only director I have ever seen to consistently get actors to act in any way that seems 'real', is Mike Leigh. And he is one of the best ever. But we don't need many directors like him, since films, and the performances in them, should feel no obligation to this standard. Movies can talk about, and have lots to say, about reality without being completely beholden to feeling like they are actually real things.

I do, especially during the movie. Often I'll pause the movie and watch the same scene twice to study the actors/actress face if I'm impressed with their acting.

My favourite film as a matter of fact, Viaggio in Italia (1954), often gives that impression to me. It was the thing that really struck me when I first saw it, that overall everything happens with such a level of natural realism that makes it so easy to believe and to be drawn into. Although it's about a relationship, I often think its much like watching a documentary, where you can see people behaving naturally because it's reality. Much of the typical drama of movies has been left out, giving the film quite a different and interesting flavour. I wouldn't say it's all necessarily believable, but certainly a good deal of it is. It's like Rossellini just set up a camera and started filming these people's lives, without them knowing.

Some might classify it as part of the neo-realist movement, although quite a few critics in Italy at the time felt that Rossellini was moving away from the genre at that point in his career. Perhaps he was redefining it. With this film in particular he apparently employed an unusual technique, whereby he only allowed the actors to read their lines very shortly prior to the filming of each scene. Furthermore, it's been suggested that he liked to exploit his actors' real life personalities. Here for example George Sanders was extremely frustrated and anxious about his style of directing, as was Ingrid Bergman who wanted him to return to making the films that had originally made him successful. Perhaps this all adds something to the emotion and level of immersion, in that the acting is so believable because it's rather imperfect, and they are often in effect playing themselves.

Ha! Right. Or worse yet, "I'll have a beer." Bottled, draft, Bud, Coors, glass, no glass? And when paying for a taxi, the character always has the right change. At least sometimes they say, "Keep it", or something.

Some of these could be in the "Movie Cliches" thread.

But beyond that, in re acting performances, I think a lot of actors/directors have sought out the natural approach. I'm reminded of dialogue in most Orson Welles' movies, where the dialogue is spoken over the end of the other character's lines without waiting for the other to finish-- just as in real life. It can be over done, but when used aptly it's very effective.

The only time I was mighty impressed by a performance was in Sideways, when


I think that's exactly how it would unfold in real life.

I think even in the oae context of realism, or, naturalism some sort it still take on how it conveyed by the actors and perceived by the audience.

Still i think audience wont be so much appreciated a realistic where the dialog use a lot interjection aka the way we speak in daily life

I agree. I'm only talking acting, not having a natural script, so to speak.



If I made a movie, I'd allow actors to make mistakes - such as bumping their foot on the way to answering the phone. They're too graceful.

I think script certainly plays a factor there, in helping the actors interpret their actions, but again it could be relative I guess, so yeah. in a more organic creative process, the director could also open for actors' feedback to the script.

Yeah, love that kind of thing too; I think if you mean by small but seamlessly impromptu/adlibbed, non-dialogue details that add more immersion to their performance.

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