A Real Pain

"Grandma Dory" has passed away and left her two grandsons some money so that they can take a trip to Poland and see where she grew up amidst the Nazi invasion and subsequent holocaust. These two are cousins. "David" (Jesse Eisenberg) is a bit of a shy, geeky, type who lives in New York with his wife and child. "Banji" (Kieran Culkin) is quite the opposite. A free spirited, thinking and speaking individual who cares little for what anyone else thinks about him. The pair clearly love each other, but the behaviour of the latter continues to rattle his travelling companion, especially when they meet up with the other members of their touring party in Warsaw. What now ensues is quite a testament to both Eisenberg's vision as a writer/director but also to the inspired casting of Culkin. He is the kind of holiday companion I'd cheerfully have killed with a rusty harpoon. Loud, brash, opinionated and sometimes borderline cruel as he imposes himself on the group swearing as he goes. Gradually, though, we discover that both men have shields up; both are dealing with some fairly deep psychological issues in their own way and even ought these may clash, there is still far more fundamentally connecting them that not. There are ample opportunities to see the sights of Warsaw, and there is an haunting few minutes at the Majdanek camp where shoes, thousands and thousands of shoes, make you shiver. It's potent and it's often funny, darkly so, and in many ways it slots nicely into the recent panoply of dramas about the fascination by younger generations in the horror of war that those who endured actually want to get past and forget. It also shines a light on the whole business of tourism around these monuments, and does make it quite clear that sometimes these trips can become a statistical box-ticking exercise, especially for Americans, who want to say they've "done" that. An architectural monument equivalent of a safari "big five". In the end I found "Benji" to be a vulnerable but fundamentally selfish and unlikeable character - but I bet there are many reading this who profoundly disagree. That's proof that these two did their job well and I'd recommend you go see it in a cinema for a couple of powerful and characterful performances.

Two polar-opposite cousins, introverted, responsible, neurotic David and extroverted, seemingly-carefree Benji, fly to Poland as part of a Jewish history tour to visit significant cultural and historic sites, including a WW2 concentration camp. Their beloved, recently-deceased grandmother survived the Holocaust and they want to see where she lived. During the course of the tour their contrasting personalities start to cause friction between the two and past issues are rekindled.

Okay but underwhelming. A film that seems more about the journey than the destination, which is not in itself a bad thing - some great dramas have not had a powerful or profound conclusion but were fantastic in getting there. Unfortunately, here the journey is not entirely enjoyable nor engaging.

The film just seems to meander around for most of its duration. There's a few good moments and there's enough going on to maintain your interest but it never becomes riveting viewing.

Add in the fact that neither cousin is that interesting and Benji (played by Kieran Culkin) is downright annoying and the engagement levels are quite low too.

As mentioned, there are some good moments and passages of play though and the historic and cultural aspects of the tour are quite interesting and edifying. Not a must-see but interesting enough to be watchable.

I won't cover what others have already said. This isn't a comedy or a road movie and it's not some commentary on the horrors of war.

For me this quaint indie (feeling) flick is really an observation about living with someone with mental illness. If looked upon from this angle it is well observed and touching and uses its three acts to unfold all the different dynamics in the cousins relationships using the backdrop of the road trip and the visit to the concentration camp. It deliberately subverts expectations by not providing a defined ending (often the case in this situation) and the scenes often don't lead to expected outcomes. That's what life can be like when your are dealing with that issue.

For me this made the film an interesting (if flawed) study that was definitely worth the watch. YMMV.

I was really impressed by this movie. In my opinion it's a really original story. It's strength lies in it subtlety. It very accurately depicts the duality of people's character. The beauty and the shadow. I found it very interesting to see how what looked like "negative" behavior turned out to have some positive effect. How nothing is black and white. How being very direct also means being honest for example. It really makes you think.

The dynamics in the group were also interesting and heart-warming to watch. It shows how people can really connect over a short period of time.

Definitely worth the watch for those who are interested in the complexity of humans.

I just finished this film and I have to say I'm surprised reading some of the bad reviews about it, I know film perception is subjective but I don't understand how someone could dislike this film. It was so interesting to me, and the thing is, nothing big really happens, you just follow these two cousins along their trip, it's normal, it's almost casual. There are not going to explain everything to you because there's no need for it. We have access to the superficial, to the bare minimum because that how the characters relate to each other, there so much they don't understand and so much that they don't say. The performances are all incredibly, especially Culkin. I was left crying by the end. Maybe you need to have dealt with depression to connect with it more. Maybe you need to have seen someone you love survive (or not) this painful illness. But I'm happy for this type of movies to exist. This stories also need to be told. As rare and unfitted for some people may seem.