In Praise of Subtle Performance

Big, intense performances are the ones that get a lot of the recognition and praise (often for good reason!). But a lot of my favorite moments of acting are tiny, subtle expressions. In this video I highlight the power of some of these subtler moments of performance, and acknowledge that talent is about much more than intensity.

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#ThomasFlight #VideoEssay #Acting

[erzarose]

"It's sad to watch people cry, but it's far sadder to watch people try not to cry."

Biggest lesson I've learned as an actor

[justincain]

When I was younger, I tried to do this kind of thing because I wanted to portray realistic emotion. Then I realized, I'm doing a school musical, no one is gonna even be able to see this kind of subtlety. It's great that film lets us explore quieter moments.

[liliebilie]

Florence Pugh’s micro facial expressions are truly something to behold. Face acting at its finest. She doesn’t even have to say a word and you know exactly how she’s feeling. It’s incredibly powerful.

[janiholtshausen]

this is why i love the quiet romantic moments of period dramas. The very subtle facial expressions during a proclamation of love is just everything

[somebody_else]

There's a Brazilian movie critic that once said that Florence Pugh is someone that knows herself so well, has such a strong confidence of who she is, that it allows herself to become empty and leave enough space so the character can easily take control, there's no conflict between the real Florence and her roles, you can see when shes fully transformed into another person, she gives everything and i completely agree with that

[sitcomchristian]

An acting teacher I had years ago, had an exercise where you would literally walk onto the stage, sit on a bench, and do nothing. He said it was the most difficult acting exercise he knew. And he's onto something: it's much more difficult to "not perform" than it is to put on a big show.

[samsepiol]

Olivia Colman's character in Fleabag is one of my favourite examples of this kind of acting. She rarely raises her voice. She doesn't need to. Every line, every snarky comment she makes has such venom to it. Certain ways of on-screen communication can only be done in this subtle way. The evil stepmother's judgmental comments hit so much harder because of the subtlety that Colman achieves. Amazing performance

[MrTrymon]

This was one of the things that made Arcane so great. The animators nailed the subtle performances of all the characters in a way i've never seen in animation before. The quiet scenes stood out just as much as the big action scenes.

[mollie_b]

My favorite scene in Midsommar is when she's tripping and having a decent time, and the word "family" immediately brings her out of that bliss and into a nosedive bad trip. The acting was so incredible

[criswebb]

I cannot get over Florence Pugh's range. She's so believable and good portraying grief in Midsommar, but ... also amazing in her comedic scenes as Yelena Belova in Black Widow and Hawkeye. SUCHH a talent!

[forthehomies]

The hardest and most impressive part about micro expression is not only knowing when to do it, but being able to avoid doing it. You have to be completely comfortable and in the moment, to avoid awkwardness and to not make it seem like you're trying to do it. Body language, posture, facial expressions, we all do them subconsciously. Being able to control them and time them is incredibly difficult, let alone in front of an entire camera crew

[tony]

Florence Pugh is absolutely among the greats with her performances so far in her career. Such a talented person.

[ohitslikethathuh]

Realistically portraying "feeling an emotion while pretending not to" has always been the kind of acting that most impresses me, and is way more effective on me than outbursts of emotion, so I'm happy you made this video showing it some love!

[andrew]

The more I watch Midsommar, the more I think Pugh put on one of the best performances I have ever seen on film. The layers of emotion that she presents on her face is nothing short of amazing. Her ability to subtly show her trauma on her face while trying to hide it with a smile, or changing the subject felt like she wasn’t acting, but just tapping into something far deeper. Thanks for this video. You’ve articulated everything so well.

[Crosshill]

i love it when big plot twists are foreshadowed not just by logic and reasonings but by those tiny little 'huh' feelings of very subtle acting

[rosemendez]

that's why fleabag is my favorite show. its a quiet look into someone's unraveling, little things in actions and looks and interactions tell a whole story. it's so real and soooo incredible.

[twilight]

Emma Thompson is another great master of this particular skill. I've seen Love Actually a million times, and the part where she's opening the Christmas gift from her husband just breaks my heart. The way she tries to conceal the heartbreak in front of her children, and the cut to the scene of her standing alone in the bedroom rubbing her wrist (a lot of us absentmindedly do little physical things like this when we're trying not to hysterically cry) and fluffing the blanket on the bed...it's just so real.

[Petite-]

Steven Yuen continues to be a vastly underrated actor. I see him access certain roles, but he seriously does not get enough performance opportunities from what I can tell. Hollywood is sleeping on him (except for you Mister Peele, bless). Riz Ahmed is another. Every role is a piercing performance.

[demeedee]

The first micro facial expression I noticed was from Mads Mikkelsen in his Hannibal role. The way he always seems so poker-faced but you can just feel what kind of emotion he's actually conveying was amazing for me.

[richie-]

i'm so glad you brought up Daniel Kaluuya because he was one of the first actors that came to mind for me lol. he's INCREDIBLE at subtle performances, obviously showcased fully in Get Out and Nope. and it's painful to see some people call his acting in those movies "boring" because they expect big emotive expressions of terror in a horror movie and they're completely missing all of the depth that he's giving us in a quieter package.