A Real Pain
A Real Pain is playing in theaters at the time of writing. Rated R. Common Sense says 16+
Two estranged cousins reunite to take a tour of Poland. There, they will reckon with the Holocaust, their family’s history, and their own difficult relationship.
STORY: D
A premise dripping with the promise of deep significance falls flat.
The story talks about incredibly important things: the Holocaust, family relationships, loss. But not every film that talks about important things actually says something important.
Moments between characters meant to move us instead seem small and banal. They fail to change the characters in any significant way, which ultimately leaves us unfulfilled.
PEOPLE: D+
The characters feel like they’re acting, not living.
The film is talky. Its inhabitants sound more like an avatar for the screenwriter than real human beings. They speak more in ideas than in sentences.
Neither EIsenberg nor Culkin can elevate the material. Which is strange, considering the huge amount of acting talent they possess. And even stranger still since Eisenberg penned the script himself.
FILM NERD STUFF: B-
The film is at its best when it’s not saying anything at all.
The film’s most memorable images will be of Culkin and Eisenberg staring at historical monuments.
In these sequences, the memorials are withheld from our view at first. We start by looking at the men’s faces. The camera is placed slightly above their eye line, looking down at them. Their eyes look above the camera. This creates a large implied height of the object, signifying its massive importance.
The camera lingers as the men gaze at it. That gives our imaginations time to place themselves in their heads, bringing us more fully into their moment.
ONE BIG LESSON: D
We can’t remain in the past, but we can use it to help fashion the future we want.
This is an important lesson, but the film gets a low grade because it’s not effectively communicated in the film. Everyone who’s learned it has learned it before the film begins. That fact makes us wonder why this trip and/or movie is necessary.
FINAL COMMENTS:
A Real Pain is receiving rave reviews from most places. It will not here.
Perhaps I had too-high hopes for this film. It won the screenwriting award at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. It features two of today’s most talented actors. The premise is fantastic, and the story’s reverence for the victims of the Holocaust is appropriate and effective.
Despite all that, the film walks around as if it’s wearing the Emperor's new clothes. It marches about believing it’s cloaked in depth, insight, and meaning. In reality, I could barely see any of these things in this movie, if at all.
The film contains a fabulous idea and is an admirable effort, but to quote Brian Cox during his rant at Nicolas Cage in Adaptation (which feels very appropriate to my experience viewing this movie): “I don’t have any use for it.”