There are moments of discomfort in the new film A Real Pain from Jesse Eisenberg (he wrote, directed and co-stars). Awkward moments. Uncomfortable moments. Those why-couldn’t-he-just-keep-his-mouth-shut moments. And they are very much a part of the film’s charm and it’s successful dives into deeper meaning.
This is not just a road picture or a buddy picture or a mismatched pair picture, it is all of those and more. It is a movie that is so much more than we expect.
I’ve never been a fan of Eisenberg — until now. If he can make films like this he’ll have won a place in my cinematic heart. I have been a fan of Kieran Caulkin since his brilliant work on Succession and I’m a bigger fan today. His performance betrays the considerable depth of his talent.
Caulkin and Eisenberg play cousins from New York who join a tour group in Poland to see Jewish heritage sites. They are paying homage to their recently deceased grandmother who was a Holocaust survivor. Eisenberg’s David has a stable life with a steady job, wife and precocious child and he's OCD. Caulkin’s Benjy boasts none of the above, but he does enjoy getting stoned and shooting from the hip. You can tell cuz is waiting for Benjy to get his act together, Despite their difference the pair has been close practically since birth (they were born only days apart). So they have a history and as in all relationships, even especially close ones, it’s not all peaches and cream. This comes out in the course of the film as does Benjy’s especially close relationship with grandma and the fact that he hasn’t fully processed her passing. Indeed a lot of issues emerge through the course of the movie some of which involve their traveling companions and tour guide.
It’s an interesting mix of characters including Jennifer Grey as a woman recovering from being abandoned by a cheating husband. An older married couple lack depth, being barely more than cardboard cutouts but this is the lone complaint I can find about an otherwise excellent film. There is also a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who's converted to Judaism and a British tour guide who's an endless font of information, so much so that it annoys the unfiltered Benjy.
A picture like this benefits from occasional lightness and there is plenty of humor to go along with pathos and piquant moments. One can’t help but like the cousins and root for them and as a bonus their story provides insight into pain -- both the kind we grow up with and that is in our DNA from past horrors. It is miraculous when we can uncover pain and move on a stronger people.
A final note: there’s a scene in which the group visits a a former concentration camp where the Nazis perpetrated some of their horrors. It is mostly silent, as was the theater when I watched it. Not even the sound of popcorn being chewed. Kudos to Eisenberg the director for setting just the right tone for the viewer.
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