A Real Pain Movie Review

This film was so much more than I thought it would be. Going in, I figured, for some reason, since Jesse Eisenberg was both writer and director of this serious yet still humorous movie about cousins touring the land in Poland, seeing Holocaust sites and their grandmother’s house back in Poland, that he wouldn’t be able to handle such a serious plot with the care it needed to be given. ​

Well, I was wrong. The cousins want to honor their beloved grandmother and go to where she was raised to do that. This is a critical plot point that doesn’t always play that way.

Immediately, Eisenberg took the notion that he couldn’t deal with such a serious film directly from my head and stomped all over it. Culkin did, too, if ever I doubted his ability to carry a story such as this. He’s a big leaguer here, giving Eisenberg what he needed to carry the story forward.

Culkin is Benji. He and Eisenberg’s David were once very close. They’re hoping this tour will bring them together again. Benji is extremely outgoing, which makes David recoil. They’re now so different that David is unsure the tour will change that fact. They were like brothers at one time, but now David has a family. However, through Benji, he sees what he could have been. David is anxious and tense… constantly worried. Benji is anything but. He’s carefree and unruffled by anything. David winces at what he sees his favorite cousin turning into but is also jealous about it.

Culkin is colossal here. Immense! And no one will leave the theater not mesmerized by his performance. His Benji has a lot of energy. David notices they’re very little alike as they were. Benji is into himself, not looking out for others, seldom caring much about David. Benji takes advantage of David whenever possible and makes David often uncomfortable with the things he says and does.

Eventually, they walk through gas chambers where there was immeasurable pain and suffering. Benji points out that they would have most likely been born there had Hitler not risen to power and killed millions of their people. After you contemplate that, there’s a moment where they decide it’s a good idea to take some quirky pictures. The very thought of this is illogical but effective in so many ways. You’ll be shocked at what Benji has no fear to ask of David and what David is or isn’t willing to do to make Benji happy.

The dialogue between them while in the gas chambers is vital, so pay attention. It makes you chuckle; only these two could pull off at this moment, but Eisenberg also shows you that he takes this project very seriously. How it succeeds with the drama built-in is beyond belief. It’s beautifully touching and side-splittingly funny, showing love one moment and the cousins having a laugh the next, whether they meant to or not.

David sees Benji as a pain in the backside. The movie’s title never says what the pain is, but I think that could be it… or it could be that David feels a real pain when he sees what has become of his favorite person. What do you think?

Eisenberg’s directing was riveting. He has you laughing so hard you’re crying in one shot and unable to stop the tears from rolling down your cheeks from the emotional significance the next. These tears are from the magnitude of the scene playing out before you, most likely.

There’s a meaningful score to join you, which is effective in itself. What works the most is the ending of “A Real Pain.” It’ll take your breath away. Honestly, the entire film will. This is an absolute must-see. The best film of the year so far.

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