David Kaplan: Yeah
Line of Events
Mismatched cousins reunite for a tour across Poland to honor their beloved grandmother, but their old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. 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 moving, we stay light, we stay agile. Benji Kaplan: The conductor’s going to come by, get the tickets, we tell him we’re going to the bathroom. David Kaplan: Bathroom. Benji Kaplan: He gets to the back of the train, he heads to the front looking for stragglers. David Kaplan: Sorry, are we stragglers?
Benji Kaplan: Yeah
By the time he gets to the front, the train will be in the station and we’ll be home free. David Kaplan: That’s so stupid. Tickets are probably twelve dollars. Benji Kaplan: That’s the principle of the thing. We shouldn’t have to pay for train tickets in Poland. This is our country. David Kaplan: No, we don’t, this was our country.
Featured on CBS News Sunday Morning: Episode #4644 (2024)
They kicked us out because they thought we were cheap. 12 Études, Op. 25, No. 3 in F Major Written by Frédéric Chopin Performed by Tzvi Erez. “We keep moving, we keep light, we keep nimble.” Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) A Real Pain is a comedy, yes, cleverly crafted by writer/director Jesse Eisenberg, but it’s also a serious drama about the differences between two Jewish cousins traveling to Poland in honor of their recently deceased grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. This buddy movie is a study of two different characters and their relationships with each other and their Jewish history. David (Eisenberg) is John Milton’s Il Penseroso and Benji is his L’Allegro, two opposites, the former characterized by melancholy and the latter by cheerfulness.
Writer/director Eisenberg never allows either character to gain our censorship
David is the down-to-earth, nerdy, contemplative one and Benji (Kieran Culkin) the offbeat motormouth whose joys are nonetheless worth pondering. His advice (above) to David to stay cool while avoiding paying for their train fare is a product of David’s careful thoughtfulness combined with Benji’s chutzpah. Less the bipolar weirdo, Benji is more of a funny, smart guy – a man too smart to say stupid things and too immature to tone them down. The sympathetic soul of the film lies in his character, who connects with the other Holocaust tourists in an inspired way that reminds them of him. But when they visit a concentration camp, they say almost nothing: as if the history of the genocide were too much for words. Only Benji’s words, advising the guide, the non-Jewish James (Will Sharpe), to find the real emotion in the statistics he offers, make a difference. Although Benji can be opinionated, he resonates with the pleasant Rwandan Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), a convert to Judaism, and Marcia (Jennifer Gray), a middle-aged melancholic waiting to be released from her sadness following her divorce.
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Despite Benji’s recent dark and serious moment, David worries about his charismatic, uprooted cousin. The director gently shows the complexity of the human personality and the differences between members of a family, no matter the circumstances. More than just a balanced portrayal of two completely different loved ones, A Real Pain shows the emotional benefits of L’Allegro and the grounded reality of The Thinker. After all, they are blood relatives, almost brothers, who are very different but underneath the history of the Holocaust and their grandmother, just like all of us trying to understand the horror and joy of life. It’s a buddy movie, but it’s all about words, not action like Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid. This lighthearted dramedy should be a strong contender for an Oscar. From Alien: Romulus to Road House, take a look back at some of these films.
