her best performance iyo
camp x ray
welcome to the rileys
Best performance: Clouds of Sils Maria
My sentimental fave: Adventureland
MovieChat Forums > Kristen Stewart Discussion > her best performance iyo
Sils Maria
Adventureland
Café Society
Cake Eaters
Just to name a few which are among favorites. But I think she's done very well in many roles, such as Speak, The Runaways, Yellow Handkerchief, Camp X-Ray, On the Road. Many are small or indie films where she finds characters who are interesting or are in conflict which adds to the story, her character and other characters in the cast.
The Cake Eaters
Speak
Clouds of Sils Maria
Honorary mention for her performances in ...
Cutlass
Ride 'Em On Down
[I guess there's something about Kristen and cars which turns on my ignition key. ;~) ]
Looking forward to seeing Personal Shopper. It'll be interesting to see whether that critically lauded performance tops her performance in The Cake Eaters for me.
One of her best performances which sometimes gets overlooked is her role as Tracy Tatro from "Into the Wild" which impressed Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke so much that she decided to cast her as Bella Swan after Kristen came highly recommended by her ITW co-star Emile Hirsch.
Here are my fave clips of her performance as Tracy T. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THchtDr_7SI
She was also in speak based on a novel. Another one I like is where she stars in adventureland.
shareKristen received lots of critical acclaim from her performances after her stint with Twilight ended, most notably in films such as Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper, Still Alice, Camp X-Ray and Cafe Society.
That being said, it could also be argued that some of her best performances of her career, seemingly unbeknownst to many film critics, came before Twilight, such as her roles in Speak and Adventureland (most of this film with the exception of the final scene was filmed before Twilight), as you mentioned. Other noteworthy performances include roles in The Cake Eaters, Into the Wild, The Messengers, The Yellow Handkerchief and Panic Room--I'm pretty sure Carved and Ron would agree that she had serious acting chops pre-Bella Swan--in fact Carved has stated on several occasions that his two all-time fave KStew performances came before Twilight (i.e., The Cake Eaters, Speak).
In my opinion, Kristen has moments of greatness in every film she has ever starred in--even including all five installments of The Twilight Saga, although in this case her acting talent wasn't as noticeably evident in comparison to some of her other meatier roles which have tested her range throughout the entire duration of the film.
I agree. I think in the right hands she shines.
shareAgreed in the sense that she excels when she works with a director who lets her run with it, such as Olivier Assayas. Interestingly the two roles she was cast in Assayas' films were quite different and brought out some of the best acting of her career as these roles offered the best of both worlds:
Clouds of Sils Maria, which was a dialogue driven film, showcased her ability to memorize and recite complex dialogue, while at times affording her the chance to improvise and ad lib lines which weren't included in the screenplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Wq5GHL3j0
In contrast, Personal Shopper did not offer Kristen much in the way of witty repartee like COSM did, but without question this role accentuated her physicality and screen presence to a level most young actresses rarely attain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeU-V0IZ-S8
Combine her performances in both these films and I honestly believe that no actress of her generation can rival her ability to convey thoughts and emotions as effectively and realistically whether by verbally articulating or silently, through subtle and nuanced facial expressions. Hopefully their third collaboration together will offer Kristen a role where she can flaunt both her cerebral and visceral acting simultaneously.
I think the only one who can compete is Sarah Michelle Geller. That girl could make any scene work or material.
shareSarah showed a world of promise because to her mesmerizing performance in "Cruel Intentions" but unfortunately her film career took a nosedive after that because she was typecast into playing suspense/horror type roles.
Thankfully Kristen refused to allow Hollywood to pigeonhole her into the girl with angst, Bella Swan-esque archetype, which would have stopped her career in its tracks but instead chose diverse, challenging, difficult and sometimes controversial roles in indie films, which has garnered her lots of critical acclaim. So even if she doesn't win any major American acting awards or even if most of all her films don't do particularly well at the box office, the critics are definitely in her corner and will root for her and keep her relevant as an actor just so long as she continues to churn out stellar performances.
Yes, she had many good works pre-Twilight with the movies that have been mentioned. I often try to mention that since she became very well known from Twilight. Now afterwards she's doing some great roles and being noticed for her work but she was already doing some excellent work in her younger years. That's what got my attention, that such a young kid could do the work she did, such as in Panic Room where I first saw her and was impressed. Also Speak, The Cake Eaters Into the Wild. Yellow Handkerchief was a small but good movie where she did well alongside Eddie Redmayne and William Hurt.
shareYes Ron, it appears to be a great misconception even among many movie critics that she only became a good actress post Twilight, when in our opinion she's been good since the beginning of her career.
Thankfully we have a few critics who did recognize her talent early on. Take for example what my fave critic of all time, the late great Roger Ebert had to say about Kristen's performance as Em in Adventureland: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/adventureland-2009
"As the summer lurches between deadly boredom and sudden emergencies (someone wins a Big Ass Panda), James and Em grow closer. This is absorbing because they reveal themselves as smarter than anyone realizes. From his earlier work, I expected to like Eisenberg. What surprised me was how much I admired Kristen Stewart, who in "Twilight," was playing below her grade level. Here is an actress ready to do important things. Together, and with the others, they make "Adventureland" more real and more touching than it may sound."
Fortunately for myself, I watched Adventureland back in 2009 before I watched Twilight--as first impressions often make or break how many moviegoers regard an actor--and was so thoroughly impressed by how she portrayed her character Em, I've been a fan of her ever since.