A Real Pain
As an American of Polish descent, A Real Pain interested me with the premise. Two cousins had lost their grandmother, and they chose to visit Poland where she had come from, and escaped the Holocaust. The film then hits you hard in the feels with the literal, figurative, metaphorical and emotional definitions of A Real Pain.
Kieran Culkin is absolutely phenomenal in this film playing Benji, who is so lost in the world after his grandmother's death, that the pain erupts in ways that are heartbreaking and understandable.
I related to the character a lot because Benji clearly shows signs of bipolar disorder that manifests in emotions so strong that you feel them along with him. He can express silliness, sadness, intense grief, human sentimentality, joy and frustration all at the same time. It's dizzying but it's so raw and real.
Jesse Eisenberg, playing his cousin David, does his usual character of bumbling anxiety that is growing tiresome. But in this film, it works, because David tends to play the role of the mirror reflecting back to Benji what it's like to not experience the pain. The characters play well off each other as one feels too much, and one doesn't feel at all.
This film was spectacular. It's filled with so much emotional nuance that I want to see it again just to watch Benji's body language and facial expressions again as my heart is ripped apart along with his. The plot itself is very basic, but it's the impact on the characters that is most important.
I haven't even commented on the other characters in the film, but they're just as important. Everyone interacts with Benji in such a way that it just gets more and more real and relatable.
Ugh! Go see this. It's a roller coaster.
