27/49
David Kaplan: Yeah
Misfit cousins reunite for a tour of Poland to honor their beloved grandmother, but old tensions resurface as their family history unravels… When Benji and David visit their grandmother’s home in Poland, the place is where Jesse Eisenberg’s real-life ancestors settled in the diaspora. Benji Kaplan: We stay mobile, we stay light, we stay flexible. Benji Kaplan: The conductor will come by, take tickets, we tell him we’re going to the bathroom. David Kaplan: Bathroom. Benji Kaplan: He gets to the back of the train, he starts heading to the front, looking for stragglers. David Kaplan: Sorry, are we the stragglers?
Benji Kaplan: Yeah
By the time he gets to the front, the train will be at the station and we’re free. David Kaplan: That’s so stupid. Tickets are probably like twelve dollars. Benji Kaplan: That’s the way it works. We don’t have to pay for train tickets in Poland. This is our country. David Kaplan: No, it’s not, this was our country.
Featured on CBS News Sunday Morning: Episode #4644 (2024)
They kicked us out because they thought we were cheap.. 12 Etudes, Op. 25, No. 3 in F major, Written by Frederic Chopin, Performed by Zvi Erez. A Real Pain As a Polish-American, A Real Pain intrigued me with the premise. Two cousins had lost their grandmother and chose to visit Poland, where she came from, and escaped the Holocaust. Then the film hits you hard in the feels with the literal, figurative, metaphorical, and emotional definitions of A Real Pain.
This film was spectacular
Kieran Culkin is absolutely phenomenal in this film, playing Benji, who is so lost in the world after his grandmother’s death that the pain erupts in ways that are heartbreaking and understandable. I really connect with the character because Benji clearly shows signs of bipolar disorder, which manifests in emotions so intense that you feel them with him. He can simultaneously express silliness, sadness, intense grief, human sentimentality, joy, and disappointment. It’s stunning, but it’s so raw and real. Jesse Eisenberg, playing his cousin David, plays his usual character of uncomfortable anxiety that becomes increasingly tiring. But in this film it works because David plays the role of the mirror, reflecting back to Benji what it’s like to not feel the pain. The characters play off each other well, as one feels too much and the other doesn’t feel at all.
Go see this
It’s filled with so much emotional nuance that I want to watch it again, just to watch Benji’s body language and facial expressions again as my heart breaks along with his. The plot itself is very basic, but the most important thing is the impact on the characters. I haven’t even commented on the other characters in the film, but they are just as important. Everyone interacts with Benji in such a way that it just becomes more real and relatable. Phew! It’s a roller coaster. From Alien: Romulus to Road House, take a look back at some of our favorite posters from 2024.
