A Real Pain follows cousins David and Benji, as old tensions resurface while they tour Poland to honor their grandmother.
In the opening minutes, A Real Pain features subtle dialogue that explores the character’s backgrounds, and how differently they each view the world. One is more extroverted and open-minded, while the other is awkward and self-conscious. While we don’t all perfectly fit into one of these bubbles, A Real Pain is inherently relatable to anyone.
For me in particular, this was a very reflective movie-watching experience, as I saw pieces of myself inside both David and Benji. This film perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be human. We all say “I’m good” when someone asks, but the reality is a lot more complex. We are all in pain, whether it’s big or small. This part of the human experience is explained so well in A Real Pain.
A Real Pain immediately sucks you in with the character dynamic between David and Benji. By doing so, it almost asks you to see the world through the light of someone else. Because all of the characters have such depth, the emotional moments hit even harder. The flick even delivers impactful sequences with the “background” characters, which is something that not many other movies are able to accomplish.
These characters are certainly heightened by the performances of Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin. Whether it’s a hilarious, sad or uncomfortable moment, the pair is always bouncing off of each other. The individuals that they play are extremely different, yet they are able to mesh together so well due to the actors’ presence.
Alongside the characters, A Real Pain is a beautiful movie. While it’s easy to tell a story through words, the film also expresses both the highs and lows of life through imagery. Each shot is gorgeous, but also haunting at times as well. Whether it’s capturing the landscape or just close-ups of the two characters, each and every scene forces you to analyze and reflect.
A Real Pain is extremely simple on the surface, yet there are a lot of complexities hiding underneath. This movie perfectly illustrates the saying of “never judge a book by its cover.” It’s slightly too on-the-nose at times while discussing current issues within society, but at the end of the day this is a character study about identity, friendships and grief. It’s a powerful film that I will not forget any time soon.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
