A Real Pain

Excellently crafted and acted, A Real Pain is a gem. 

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Scott's Self-Indulgent Movie Podcast · Episode 928: A Real Pain

For much of his career, Jesse Eisenberg has been pigeonholed into two kinds of roles. The first are anxiety-ridden, but ultimately nice guys who may have some degree of neurodivergence at play. The second are dickheads. Cocky dickheads who may or may not have stolen the idea for Facebook or want to kill Superman. but is it pigeon-holing if you do it to yourself? I bring this up because A Real Pain leans heavily into the anxiety-ridden nice guy persona Eisenberg has cultivated so well, that's paired up with an unpredictable live-wire, his cousin played by Kieran Culkin.

The Setup

Eisenberg plays David Kaplan, a successful family man and marketer who's linking up with his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin) on a trip through Poland to honor their departed grandmother who survived the Holocaust. But as Benji's outbursts become more and more unpredictable, the tour, and David and Benji's relationship, may hit a breaking point.

I really liked this movie. It's a quick, quietly effective dramedy that rings emotionally true throughout and promises great things to come from Eisenberg as a writer/director. 

Thus far, most of the buzz around this movie centers around Kieran Culkin as Benji, and it is easy to see why. The problem with a role like this is that Benji needs to be almost equal measure endearing and frustrating, and not every actor is good at threading that needle. Thankfully that just so happens to be Culkin's wheelhouse, especially since Succession where he played a dickhead, but a likable one. You need to be able to see why members of the tour group like him and find him interesting and thoughtful, but also give him enough random outbursts and foibles that will grate on the people around him. The script and Culkin do this so well.

But what the movie is actually about and it's actual focus is how Eisenberg's David views Benji. With a handful of exceptions almost all of the movie is told from David's point of view, so, for instance, when Benji starts putting together a fun little game with a statue, we the emphasis is less on what Benji is doing, and more on David feeling like he can't join the fun as he begins collecting every one else's phones. There's a barrier there and he can't indulge in Benji's escapist fun. 

And as much as I joked about this movie playing to a familiar type for Eisenberg, David is a bit more layered than he might seem. Because David is harboring a lot of feelings around Benji including pity and frustration. This is also conveyed through the films sepia/greenish undertones with the sepia invoking nostalgia and the green creating a sense of unease. Just smart decisions all around.

There's a through line here about what isn't being said or what people feel is or isn't polite to say with David wanting to avoid conflict at all cost and Benji seemingly being so egoless or egotistical, it's hard to say, that he'll cut through all the niceties and just say what he's feeling. Which can be liberating, but also might be the sign of someone who feels too much.

This blends really well with the trip's primary focus which is a history of the Holocaust. David and Benji are trying to grapple with their family's history and David  in particular, is trying to figure out what he owes to those who came before him and the family he does have now. One thing I've heard a number of people raised in the Jewish faith say, is that the horror of the Holocaust is inescapable. That, depending on your religious education and your own household, you were probably aware of the Holocaust from a young age and it comes with a degree or responsibility and guilt attached. But not necessarily an emotional connection to those that past.

A Real Pain argues is that those terrifying stories and numbers can only hold meaning if they have that emotional anchor. Put another way, we know how and why these people died. We want to hear about who these people were, how they lived and how they fought too.

What I really love about this movie is how well it captures the vibe of being around someone/something that challenges you. Because it can be freeing and fun to be around someone who will help you hop on a train with no ticket or talk your way past a cop. But they also were probably the reason this was a problem in the first place. Like, thanks for sorting that out buddy but also, don't do that shit again.

A Real Pain is a lot of things, but what it is for me is about love. And in particular loving someone who can make it very hard to love them. Especially when they clearly love you.

The Verdict: A Gem

Excellently crafted and acted, A Real Pain is a gem. 8/10