Equally funny and emotional, Jesse Eisenberg's sophomore film, A Real Pain, tells a story about navigating familial relationships and how facing deeply rooted pain can be both traumatic and freeing.
A Real Pain Review
Confronting generational trauma seems to be Hollywood's new go-to genre when they aren't making sequels or big action blockbusters. Each one tries to approach the sensitive subject through a unique lens and the results vary from middling to powerful. That being said, I was cautiously optimistic for Jesse Eisenberg's second outing as a director. Written and directed by Eisenberg, A Real Pain tackles a lot of complexities that all feed into the generational trauma. Two polar opposite cousins must reunite to honor their late grandmother and face their family's past that includes her surviving the Holocaust. It's certainly not light material, but Eisenberg handles it with a deft hand as well as care for the characters and the real life people who will relate to their struggles.
Equally funny and emotional, A Real Pain tells a story about navigating familial relationships and how facing deeply rooted pain can be both traumatic and freeing. It is a dramedy. A buddy road-trip film that starts off funny before taking a turn onto a more sobering ground, making for a rocky but heartwarming ride. It takes a slightly different spin on the straight man/funny man routine, with Eisenberg fully embracing the former and Kieran Culkin becoming instantly memorable as the latter. These two play well off each other, with a familiarity that makes it believable these two grew up together, which makes the highs and lows of their trip all the more poignant.
Cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) find themselves reunited after the death of their grandmother. In her will, she left them money to visit Poland, to discover more about her life there during and after the Holocaust. These two couldn't be any more different. David is a straitlaced, albeit high-strung, successful man with a wife and child. He isn't the life of the party but he is dependable, organized, and definitely the “parent” in any given group dynamic. Benji on the other hand is a free-spirited, fun, likable guy who seems to make friends wherever he goes. But as with a lot of outwardly comedic people, his laughter hides a darkness. Everything comes to a head when the two come face-to-face with their family's history during a Holocaust remembrance tour.
David and Benji have a complicated relationship to say the least, but their bond and frustrations are handled with a thoughtfulness, giving room to allow their emotions to breathe. There is a space that even the closest of family members can't cross. In truth, there is only so much support we can offer our loved ones, because at some point they must help themselves. It's a hard fact to accept, but A Real Pain smartly questions what it means to truly be a shoulder for someone and what it looks like to walk with them through soul-crushing pain. Although it doesn't offer concrete answers to these questions, it does give hope that navigating hard times is possible with a little grace, kindness, and tough love like a slap across the face.
The story is anchored by the performances of Eisenberg (who was right to cast himself as David) and Culkin. As mentioned above, their chemistry is what makes this whole thing incredibly moving. For anyone who has ever been close to a cousin, there is no doubt in your mind these two grew up together. They joke, fight, confide, and push each other's buttons like cousins. Even their physical moments of bear hugs, noogies, and playful shoves all add to this sense of familiarity and intimacy that comes with knowing someone your whole life. This all comes to a heartbreaking head when David is left to explain to their tour group what caused Benji's inexplicable outburst. The man who spends most of the film tight and controlled, slowly allows the tears to fall as he admits it kills him to see Benji so broken. Eisenberg fully gives himself over to the pain, as his voice cracks and the sobs threaten to drown out his words.
Culkin's Benji is given all the room to be as larger-than-life as he wants. He's charming, friendly, and always pushing David to live a little more freely. Culkin is a force here, drawing us into his sphere of zany energy just like the other tour group members. But it's when he begins to show the crack in his facade that Culkin truly wows. You begin to realize his big grins never quite reach his eyes because something haunts him, a sadness that unfortunately is never fully explored. It's clear he was close to their grandmother, believing she was the only one who ever saw him or cared, but how he ended up the way he did is never explained.
The rest of the ensemble cast could have easily been reduced to stereotypes but A Real Pain takes the road less traveled and gives them all a story that lends itself to a sense f community. Diane (Liza Sadovy) and Mark (Daniel Oreskes) are your ideal middle-aged Jewish couple who are thrown off by Benji's brazenness and tendency to say whatever comes to mind. Marcia (Jennifer Grey) is a Jewish divorcée, on this trip to take back her life by examining her history. Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan) is the most interesting of the group. He is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who converted to Judaism and is now seeking to learn more about their history. Eloge brings a quiet kindness to the group and a fresh perspective of events. Leading the group is James (Will Sharpe), another non-Jew who also cares deeply for the culture.
As for the generational trauma that is their grandmother's story (which is part of their own family history), the Holocaust is never treated as a spectacle or to put it more bluntly, trauma p**n. Just like this history runs as a current through the Jewish communities, so too does it flow beneath the surface of this story. Visually, we see things like two Warsaw trains driving away from one another, symbolizing how Jewish families were torn apart. Then there is a town, just minutes from the Majdanek concentration camp, where life continued despite the atrocities happening just up the street. Yes, they do walk through the well-preserved camp, with a few lines of dialogue but mostly everyone is silent (even the score goes quiet) allowing the truth to settle around them in a somber moment. Like the entire film, these scenes were handled delicately and with a deep respect by cinematographer Michal Dymek.
Verdict
Ultimately, A Real Pain is equally lighthearted and somber, funny yet heartfelt as it navigates familial relationships, complicated histories, and how we choose to deal with pain. It's also a gentle reminder that it is okay not to be okay and as we head into the holidays, which is admittedly a time many feel the pain of loss more acutely, it's a timely one. Both Eisenberg and Culkin deliver incredible performances that truly encapsulate the reality of growing up with this shadow of trauma constantly nearby and how life can pull us away from even those closest to us. Eisenberg also proves here that he is as much a talent behind the camera as he is in front of it, with a sharp eye for direction and an ability to pen a script that can be deeply affecting. Despite some shortcomings, A Real Pain is a healing journey that offers some poignant thoughts and lessons that will sit with you long after it ends.
A Real Pain is now playing in theaters nationwide. The film is rated rated R for language throughout and some drug use with a runtime of 90 minutes.
Leave a Reply