He Ain't Heavy, He's My Cousin

The opening scene of A Real Pain, showing a bright eyed Kieren Culkin sitting alone in a busy airport to the score of Chopin piano music, really sets the tone for what the film intends to be. You are about watch a semi-whimsical but worthy dramedy that is going to use characters that are, at first glance, entertainingly comedic to hit you in the feels. It certainly attains those goals and will tug at your heartstrings, even if you can see the notes it's going to play in advance.

Jessie Eisenberg and Kieren Culkin play David and Benji, Jewish American cousins who travel to Poland to take part in a holocaust tour and visit the home of their late grandmother, using money she left them in her will. David is reserved and a little neurotic, dealing with issues through exercise, therapy and medication, aka the American way. This leads to him being emotionally withdrawn, much to the lamentation of Benji, who misses the version of his cousin who felt everything acutely. Benji himself is a no filter straight talker who charms and infuriates in equal measure. He is also deeply troubled and, unlike his cousin, has no family or career.

In terms of production, this is Eisenberg's film, he writes, directs and produces, but in terms of acting he cedes the floor to Culkin. Benji is the "real pain" of the title and it takes all Culkin's disarming charm (not to mention the childish quality of his looks) to make us see past his character's abrasive demeanour and get on board with the idea the other people in the group wouldn't just tell him to F off. He is also very much in "real pain" and we can see the injured puppy behind the bravado and feel the desperate need he has for his cousin to fill a void in his life even as he's chastising his buttoned down manor. There is not much unexpected in the cousins relationship, once their characters are established you can already guess what needs and resentments they will harbour toward each other, but it hits home nevertheless. Even more so when it ends on such an understated and poignant note.

Where A Real Pain excels is in asking questions. David and Benji are joined on their tour by a glamorous recent divorcee, a well off older couple and a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who has converted to Judaism with the group being led by a knowledgable and reverent but unemotional English guide. Benji's direct nature forces questions on the morality of combining such solemn sites with traveling and staying in luxury and the worthwhileness of a tour that gives every stat and footnote to the holocaust but makes no attempt to interact with the local culture. The central questions of the film revolve around pain. Can modern, first world phycological crisis be called legitimate pain in the face of the horrors of the past? Do current generations owe it their ancestors, who sacrificed so much to give them a better life, to toughen up and get on with things? On the flip side, is just getting on with things when there is still so much suffering in the world an insult? The film makes no attempt to answer such weighty questions but leaves them with the viewer as food for thought.

A Real Pain doesn't really go anywhere unexpected and some of the emotional beats come across a tad contrived (of course visiting a concentration camp is going to resonate) but it feels sincere and certainly works. It also poses big questions and knows exactly where to leave things for maximum impact.

7 missed train stops out of 10.

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