16/19
David Kaplan: Yeah
Story
Misfit cousins reunite for a tour across Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when old tensions between the odd couple are resurfaced amid their family history. When Benji and David visit their grandmother in Poland, the place is where Jesse Eisenberg’s real-life ancestors settled in the diaspora.. Benji Kaplan: We’re staying mobile, we’re staying light, we’re staying agile. Benji Kaplan: The conductor comes through, takes the tickets, we tell him we’re going to the bathroom David Kaplan: He’s coming to the back of the train.
David Kaplan: Excuse me
By the time he gets to the front, the train is in the station and we’re home free. David Kaplan: This is so fucking stupid. The tickets are probably like twelve bucks. Benji Kaplan: That’s the principle of the matter. We shouldn’t be paying for train tickets in Poland.
This is our country
David Kaplan: No, it was our country. They kicked us out because they thought we were cheap. Featured on CBS News Sunday Morning episode #46.44 (2024). (I saw a preview in Bristol as part of the London Film Festival) I had high hopes for "A Real Pain" but despite a handful of funny moments and emotional speeches, there are simply too many areas where it falls short. The biggest positive is Jesse Eisenberg himself.
It’s hard to believe he’ll be the star attraction of the tour group
The writer/director anchors the film as David, an awkward but successful New Yorker who invites his cousin Benj (Kieran Culkin) on a trip to Poland to honor their grandmother and reflect on their personal struggles. Eisenberg is believable and likeable, and that’s at the heart of the best scenes, but Culkin is simply annoying. It’s an energetic performance, no doubt about it, but his instability and inability to read the situation means he’s the kind of person you’ll try to get rid of within minutes of meeting him. Will Sharpe is also very weak as the guide, who wears a Yorkshire accent that’s effective for comedic effect – perhaps it won’t bother American ears, but these British ears were very disappointed. The role would have been much stronger if it had been played straight, with the feeling that the scenes were improvised and workshopped as they went along.
A missed opportunity
Situations develop or have arisen without any apparent reason or resolution. For a drama to succeed – and this is essentially a drama – there needs to be a tension in the script and the development of the story that "A Real Pain" lacks. Any momentum that builds up slips away easily – I looked at the clock after half an hour, and the film feels long, even though it’s under 90 minutes, and at times it feels like a Polish tourist office – don’t get me wrong, it made me want to visit, I just don’t think it’s the role of the film “True Pain”. It hints that it has something important to say about grief, but it never finds the right words.
https://hkykayutangan.org/2024/11/04/private-key-for-bc1p0-diff-6285164000/