Everyone experiences and expresses grief differently, as Jesse Eisenberg’s latest directorial feature, A Real Pain, also stars Succession star Kieran Culkin. and is produced by Emma Stone. Seeing it right before a funeral is an even deeper viewing experience.
That is due to Eisenberg’s sensitivity in making A Real Pain. Whether born out of real experiences or not — I’d guess it was — he accurately shows the different ways people grieve without pulling punches.
In A Real Pain, Eisenberg and Culkin play a set of once-close cousins, David and Benji, respectively. After months apart, the two reunite to go on a journey to Poland, where their late grandmother was from.
She had recently passed, and she designated money for the two of them to travel to Poland to see her homeland. Almost immediately, you can tell that David and Benji are processing their feelings differently.
Somehow, Eisenberg is able to depict the complexity of grief in an 89-minute comedy. A Real Pain’s power comes from its willingness to be open with its portrayals of its subject matter.
While Eisenberg is great in A Real Pain, it is Culkin who cracks the code. Playing the abrasive narcissist appears to come easy for Culkin, who regurgitated his career by playing Roman Roy in Succession. There are similarities between Roy and Benji, but the latter’s emotional depth puts this above the rest of his performances.
His on-screen bickering with Eisenberg’s David also helps A Real Pain overcome any tired tropes, such as the use of “Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flag, Op. 9, No. 2.”
A Real Pain review
Almost instantaneously, A Real Pain shows the dueling personalities of David and Benji. Benji, the more free-spirited of the two, is at the airport hours early and taking in the scenery. He loves seeing the “craziest f**king people” at the airport.
That sums up Benji’s personality well. Airports are a melting pot of personalities, but they largely remain the same. Benji is that friend or relative who you worry may not be around after not hearing from them for months.
He is directionless. As the favorite of his grandmother, he is taking the loss hard but is masking it behind snark. Meanwhile, his cousin seems to have his s**t together.
While his cousin waits at the airport, David franticly leaves several messages on Benji’s answering machine on his way. David, a family man, is hesitant to leave his wife and child behind.
Jesse Eisenberg is perfect for playing characters like David in A Real Pain. The awkward energy he brings to the table is only a stone’s throw away from his iteration of Lex Luthor, but it works.
But both have their problems. And there is clear resentment over their drifting apart. Aside from the theme of grief, A Real Pain also accurately tackles family members growing apart.
Two different ways of grieving
As they say, there are seven stages of grief. David is in denial, suppressing his feelings about his grandmother’s passing. He almost looks down on Benji for showing any emotion, figuring that everyone should be able to move forward.
Benji, meanwhile, is a mixture of several of the stages. He has anger, but he also appears to be shocked by it. Even still, Benji has underlying sadness that seeps through in certain moments of outburst.
While Kieran Culkin has made a career out of being the quick-witted asshole, Benji has more layers than his usual characters. The look in his eyes suggests he is a broken man, making it excruciating to see his spiral.
Ultimately, he ends up where he starts in A Real Pain. There is something poetic about a story arc that leaves a character in the same place it finds them.
Should you watch A Real Pain?
A Real Pain is one of the most honest and best movies of the year. Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin’s chemistry is the selling point of A Real Pain, but its candid story about grief offers catharsis by the time it ends.
Eisenberg, who has only directed one other feature film, knocks it out of the park and continues showcasing his filmmaking prowess. He understands the little things like blocking, but he also wrote a snappy script that makes for a breezy 89-minute watch while never sacrificing the emotional scenes. Each choice feels intentional, and Eisenberg is already a confident filmmaker.
His future is bright, and he is a filmmaker to keep an eye on going forward.
Grade: A
A Real Pain is in theaters.
The post A Real Pain review: Kieran Culkin delivers heartbreaking performance appeared first on ClutchPoints.
