A Real Pain–Heartache

Somehow imagine a comedic road-trip between two polar-opposite young cousins–David and Benji– to Auschwitz.  That is A Real Pain, starring Jesse Eisenberg (“Social Network”) and Kieran Culkin (of “Succession”).

The two cousins are given an all-expenses paid trip to Poland by their now deceased grandmother to honor her survival from Auschwitz and to remember the unthinkable. David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) are not as close as they once were growing up together in New York.  Both are fond of their grandmother and grieving for her.

David is now gainfully employed, has a wife and young child, but has an anxiety disorder managed with medication.  In sharp contrast, Benji floats in life,– single, unemployed,– but the life of the party because of his charisma and ease in any social setting.  Notwithstanding his charm, Benji is also mercurial and troubled.  People may be occasionally shocked by Benji’s outrageously frank behavior, but they are also drawn to it. Benji is much more fun than David.

Despite considerable personality differences, David and Benji want to make the most of their grandmother’s bequest.  In Warsaw, they soon meet up with other tour members: a  middle-aged, attractive, recently divorced woman who immediately takes a liking to Benji.  On the visit to the concentration camp, the young British tour guide, rather nonchalantly, cautions:  “This will be a tour about pain.” 

And rather suddenly Benji becomes increasingly belligerent and uncomfortable with the “tour” atmosphere.   Benji calls out David for extraordinarily rude behavior:   “You light up a room and then you shit on everything inside of it.”

A Real Pain primarily is about a meltdown of epic proportions with heavy doses of insightful, pungent and poignant dialogue often about mental health, identity, grief and male fragility.  Haunted by their own insecurities, David and Benji are mining unexpressed feelings of how to live in the face of uncertainty and  societal expectations, while directionless and alone.  Struggling to find a place in the world alongside  the inhumanity of others, both cousins simultaneously need an existential connection, even in the face of heartache.  Not a great movie but it covers a seldom talked about theme with a mix of humor and seriousness.

Availability:  Hulu