A Real Pain

When I first saw the trailer I said to myself, I says, “Tristan there’s both sides of your personality personified.” Which turned out to be absolutely correct.

A Real Pain centers around two cousins, Benji and David Kaplan, who go on a holocaust historical tour to honor their recently deceased Polish grandmother, and it’s hilarious.

Just as a heads up this movie and review deals with suicide, the holocaust obviously, and a few other heavy subjects. I promise you they’re both funny though!

Jesse Eisenberg (David) wrote, directed, and stars in this picture and is outstanding in all three capacities. His counterpart in this film is played by Keiran Culkin, who is staggering in his vulnerability and versatility in the performance.

Keiran (Benji) is someone I often get compared to in look and tone of performance when I’m acting, this has happened since Scott Pilgrim came out and it’s something I’ve learned to accept. It’s a compliment. But, in this film, he delivers a performance that feels familiar enough to call it home.

I live with Bipolar Disorder, which is an annoying medical condition, like diabetes or gout, where the person who has Bipolar Disorder is prone to mood swings, grandiosity, and bouts of depression. Nowhere in the text of the film does it say that Benji has Bipolar Disorder, but it’s subtextually screaming at me. He is funny, charming, difficult, and lonely. Did I mention I related to the character?

David by contrast, is socially awkward, worried, and a people pleaser. Something to which I also desperately relate. The whole time David is trying to wrangle Benji into being more socially acceptable, to which Benji bravely asks the question: “Why?” David is overly concerned with Benji’s well-being, which is understandable given that Benji had attempted to end his own life. Baffled David says something to the effect of, “I don’t how our grandmother survived the holocaust by a series of small miracles just for him to try to kill himself.”

Life is a series of small miracles and it’s through gratitude for them that one is able to push back against the onslaught of fear, doubt, grief, and anxiety that one is required to feel in order to live.

Benji is grieving for his grandmother seemingly the only person in his family to whom he could easily relate and so for him what is socially acceptable is unimportant, what is important is working through feelings of grief both for himself and for those who are also on the holocaust tour.

There is a huge aspect to this film which is centered on Jewish identity, as a goy I feel as though I can only say so much on the subject. Mainly this: it’s incredibly effective at portraying those who lived and died during World War II as people and worth remembering for that fact alone. There’s a sequence where they go to a camp and it is devastating. You could hear a pin drop in the theatre and unfortunately, me whispering to myself, “Oh God” as they show us a massive pile of shoes that were worn by those who were murdered.

A Real Pain is an apt title in many ways, is Benji a real pain for the way he’s processing his grief, deemed selfish by David because Benji attempted to end his life?

Is David a real pain for getting in the way of that grief?

Or is the real pain that which is felt by the characters?

All the technical aspects are wonderful it’s shot, edited, composed, and acted in a fantastic way that one hardly notices it which allows the viewer to simply enjoy the story. Incredible work from everyone involved and they all should feel proud.

The Runtime is 90 minutes.