A Real Pain
A Real Pain
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey
Directed by Jesse Eisenberg
Upon the death of their beloved grandmother, David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) and his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin) head to Poland to visit her home and to join a group of tourists who are visiting Holocaust sites, since their grandmother was a survivor. David is a father and husband and has allowed the world to make him more grounded and centered, while Benji is a single, free-spirited guy who makes friends with everyone he meets, but also someone who's not afraid to speak his mind. As they explore Poland and interact with the other tourists, David and Benji also come to terms with each other and their differences, and how one wants desperately to be like the other, and also how life and time has torn them apart.
"A Real Pain" is one of those quietly captivating films that sneaks its way into your heart, told with compassion, grace, and sophistication by writer/director/star Jesse Eisenberg. It's an engaging piece if cinema for someone who's only directed one other film before this, and a movie that doesn't feel melancholy or manipulative in its storytelling. It's emotionally hard-hitting and creates full dimensional characters that feel like they've been lived in their entire lives - not characters we're supposed to think that they've been acting that way. It's organic and nuanced, with each character having their own story and doesn't act as forward character momentum for the leads.
Jesse Eisenberg stars as the no-nonsense David, who is in every sense of the word an adult: he has a successful job, a loving wife, a cute child, and all his ducks in a row. He's a bit neurotic in his actions, showing a hidden fear of loss of control, and at moments comes across as the more stern of the two. He isn't as free-spirited as Benji, and you can see that he idolizes him for it, and wants to be like him. Yet he also knows Benji's past, and that's what's prevented him from seeing more of him before their grandmother's passing. You can sense the deep pain in David's eyes and his continual fear and worry that emanates through Eisenberg's performance.
Kieran Culkin is the perfect fodder for David's stiff character, and a role that transforms the "Succession" star into a full-blown awards-worthy performance. As Benji, Culkin is able to let loose and let go, giving Benji an individualist persona while also harboring a deep pain that's hidden beneath the surface. Benji is one of those people you love and loathe in equal measure: he lights up any room he's in, immediately connects and makes friends with everyone he sees, but is also a loose cannon - you never know when he's going to explode, but you know it's going to happen. It keeps you in suspense, because Benji is truly a likable character, but you know he isn't dealing with his grief in productive ways, but rather pushing it down over and over, and we all know how that ultimately ends.
Yet Eisenberg again tactfully doesn't have a rousing denouement with an all-out screaming match with crying and hugging, but instead smartly gives a more grounded, realistic ending that gives you hope for the future, but also a melancholy feeling knowing that there's not a definitive conclusion to their story - much like the beginning, the story continues off-screen. It's not a movie that makes you think it starts and ends with the first and last frame, but we're just privy to the moments that occur in-between.
Eisenberg and Culkin have intense chemistry, and their characters go deeper than the generic mismatched buddy comedy, but also reflects the real pain each of them is going through, and both actors get glorious moments to shine: Eisenberg in a dinner conversation where the camera slowly focuses on his face, and Culkin on a rooftop confession that allows his inner pain to be shown in his face and mannerisms as opposed to screaming and shouting. David both loves and hates Benji, and it's shown in their numerous moments together: he's angry that Benji lets him oversleep on the train and miss their departure, but also values the times spent with him on the roof of their hotel.
The supporting cast also smartly are written as fully fleshed out characters who have lives before the tour, and who's lives will continue after it ends - and we get to see the small snippet of their life in-between. Will Sharpe plays James, the Gentile tour guide who spits out more facts and figures than personal data; Jennifer Grey's Marcia is a recently divorced mother with whom Benji forms a deep friendship with; Kurt Egyiawan's Eloge is a recent Jewish convert who survived the Rwandan genocide; Liza Sadovy and Daniel Oreskes plays married couple Diane and Mark who are on the tour to find out more about their heritage. None of the characters are really one-note, and they don't serve merely as background characters to push David and Benji further - rather they're their own people, and have their own stories as well.
What makes the film all the more powerful and poignant is that Eisenberg filmed it in Poland, and actually visited his ancestral home after they were disposed, and also it's the first narrative film to shoot on location at an actual concentration camp - Majdanek. Those moments are the most haunting, as the tour traverses the barracks, the offices, and even the ovens in a very haunting manner where no music is played, but the visuals speak volumes. It'll move you to tears as it did for the actors, and it's truly a haunting visual of the atrocities that people have inflicted on others in history.
Touching on both a universal level and personal one, "A Real Pain" is an exceptional, 90-minute film that utilizes every single second to full effect, giving awards-worthy performances by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin and showing everyone that we all go through pain in life, and it's what we do with that pain that helps define us.
The Score: A+
Comments
Post a Comment