As the first film to check out at SCAD Savannah Film Festival (SAVFF) 2024, A Real Pain was a wholesome and funny start to the festival. The audience had many great laughs in the Trustees Theater for this one, and so did I. The film was directed, written and performed by Jesse Eisenberg. But I would agree with anyone who said that Kieran Culkin was the real star of this movie. It is so cool that it starts and ends with a shot Culkin.
A Real Pain tells the touching story of cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) reuniting to tour Poland in honour of their grandmother. Their adventure takes a turn as old tensions, resentments and demons resurface against the backdrop of their family history. The film was shot in the United States and Poland. The Poland tour portion of the story is riveting and informative, especially for viewers unfamiliar with the history of anti-Semitism in Poland during the Second World War.
The cinematography and storytelling went hand-in-hand within this film. The lingering shots and quick shots of the various streets in Poland were captivating. The flawless symmetry and the meticulous centering evoked the distinctive filmmaking style of Wes Anderson, as seen in works like The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch. While the film lacks the same colour-pops as Anderson films, the muted colours suited the tone of this dramedy.
“A Real Pain was a wholesome and funny start to the festival.”
Since it has a heavy topic to cover it wanted to focus on, it made sense not to show the more optimistic, brighter sides of Poland. Even so, A Real Pain is a poignant display of the Jewish peoples in Poland and their resilience during turbulent times. One of the coolest shots from the film is showing all the characters in a wide-angle shot, where some of them are inside a shop while the others are outside waiting. This shot was also cool for putting characters in different focal points: a mix of characters in background, foreground and middle. Fans of Guy Ritchie may find it similar to that, like in The Gentlemen.
The score is nothing special, but it did not need to be. It had a simple piano theme playing, interspersed but not too much. For the most part, A Real Pain had a lot of silent moments—allowing the characters’ dialogue to be prominent. This is why Eisenberg and Culkin’s fast-talking dance of dialogue works so well. Nothing can drown out their long spurts of conversation.
The funniest moments are when Culkin delivers one-liners. There’s a scene where he’s talking to his cousin and the group of others on the tour, and he notices Jennifer Grey’s character, Marcia, walking ahead alone. He jogs over, catches up, and says something like, “Hey, why are you walking over here by yourself? Are you a ****** loser or something?” It then quickly cuts to some b-roll shots, but the line was perfectly delivered and edited.
A Real Pain tackles many types of pain. No need for OxyContin or painkillers here! The film explores various themes of pain—physical, mental and spiritual. Much of this pain, as depicted by each character, is seen through the eyes of David and Benji. Both characters have outbursts to express their pain, demonstrating how different types of people cope with pain in distinct ways, whether subtly or with pent-up intensity.
“Even so, A Real Pain is a poignant display of the Jewish peoples in Poland and their resilience during turbulent times.”
The main point of A Real Pain is conveyed clearly and can be understood by a general audience. It sheds light on family ties, reconciliation and mental health. The rich history of Judaism and the Jewish community is engagingly portrayed, and I learned some interesting facts about certain traditions.
While the film had many funny and dramatic scenes, it did a perfect job of keeping the moments tight within the one-and-a-half-hour runtime. It didn’t feel dragged out, nor was it too short—just the right balance of pain and healing. A Real Pain might be one of my favourite heartfelt dramedies of the year, comparable to Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh in We Live in Time. If you enjoyed We Live in Time, this film offers a similarly relatable exploration of humanity in unique ways.
