A Real Pain

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Jewish American cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benjamin (Kieran Culkin) put the small inheritance they receive from their recently deceased grandma to good use, so they travel to Poland and get to know the family’s roots. There they meet British tour leader James (Will Sharpe) who is not Jewish himself but has studied Eastern European history extensively. Joined by four other participants, they all embark on a tour of Warsaw before heading over to Lublin to visit the Nazi concentration camp in Majdanek. Benji causes friction within the group due to his unapologetically blunt behavior and unorthodox opinions, leading Dave to be embarrassed of him in front of the other guests. After he expounds on what is causing his cousin’s unhinged attitude towards the tour and life in general, he reminisces on their childhood together and tries to help him get over his depression, but most often than not it is impossible to help people who won’t help themselves.

The only Culkin I know is Macaulay, whom every millennial who grew up in the 90’s would be familiar with thanks to Home Alone. Kieran the other Culkin’s existence registered in my consciousness rather late, when he won an Emmy for Succession last year. And so when he became the Oscar frontrunner for his category when awards season began, it piqued my curiosity. Awards crossovers are usually the other way around, so it is interesting to see someone from TV getting buzz for a film performance instead. The nominations are well deserved given how he steals every scene he is in. That’s the problem, though. Is he really “supporting?”

Now this we can refer to as “category fraud” or a classic case of the co-lead sliding down to Supporting for a better chance at winning awards. Not that we can blame them, though, considering how effective the strategy is now that Culkin has been nominated and is winning Supporting Actor awards left and right. At this point, he is the strongest lock for a win among the four acting categories, so much of an assured victory that a loss on Oscar night would be considered a big shock. It’s just sad because I believe he can duke it out with Adrien Brody in the Lead Actor race, but perhaps an assured Supporting win is always the better option.

I’ve read on Wiki that Eisenberg was originally going to play Benji but was advised not to do so because it would’ve been challenging to direct and portray an unhinged role at the same time. As David, he has his own moments of brilliance culminating in that dinner scene where he finally breaks down. David is just as interesting as Benji, but serves as the boring foil to his firebrand cousin. In the end, it all works out with Culkin getting the acting nominations while Eisenberg is recognized for his writing in the Original Screenplay categories. The cast and crew surely deserve some kudos for coming up with such a humorous yet emotional dramedy.

Don’t you just love it when a dramedy manages to succeed in a delicate balancing act of the two genres and ends up giving you just the right amount of feels? A Real Pain is definitely not a plot-driven narrative. The plot exposition is boring and can be summarized as two mismatched cousins who meet up at JFK then fly to Poland and participate in a heritage tour there before flying back to JFK. There are only a few interesting set pieces in between, which makes the film conducive for highlighting its actors’ performances instead. Character-driven storylines like this are remembered mostly for the genuine acting of its actors.

In any case, what I appreciate the most about A Real Pain is in the title itself. As human beings, we process pain, grief, and other worldly emotions in different ways, and this film just shows you two common templates through Dave and Benji. Nobody can really claim that either one is the correct way of dealing with life. The bottomline is that everyone is hurting in one way or another, but the manner by which you react to it and relate to others is totally your own choice. People around you might be able to serve as inspiration or help you through it but dealing with it is mostly a personal matter.