The “art-house” release ‘A Real Pain’, recently shown in cinemas, was sadly overlooked by many, and yet, it’s set to become one the year’s best movies.

• ‘A Real Pain’ was released in the US last year, and garnered glowing critical response.
• The film didn’t set the local box office alight, however, which is an enormous shame – hopefully, its arrival on Disney+ will help to expose this worthy work to a broader range of South Africans.
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Two New York cousins, David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) embark on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland. They’re very different people, and yet, they’re very close, and it seems to us that David has had to endure Benji’s unconventional ways over the years. Why he’s different becomes apparent as the movie unfolds, but what’s important is that these two individuals place their deep affection for one another above their divergent personalities. Or, perhaps, indeed, it’s their differences that bonded them from when they were kids.

What was a complete revelation to me, was that Eisenberg directed the movie, and even wrote the original screenplay. He based ‘A Real Pain’ upon his own lived experience and that of his grandmother, Doris, who had grown up in Poland but was forced to flee with her family as the dark intentions of the Nazis became clear to them.

This movie enters Eisenberg into that August group of writer-actor-directors that includes Charles Chaplin, Client Eastwood and Woody Allen – speaking of whom, there is something of the neurotic Allen in Eisenberg. He may not be quite as frenetic, but his self-doubting, neurotic, always-questioning persona is very much in the Allen mode. Eisenberg also wrote and directed a 2022 movie called ‘When You Finish Saving the World’ and, having seen ‘A Real Pain’, I’m now keen to clamp eyeballs on this earlier effort, although it isn’t currently available to view on any of our local streaming services.

On its surface, the film is about two buddy-cousins who embark on a journey of exploration of their family legacy – and it works on that level alone. It’s also an exploration of depression, however, and the fact that most neurally typical people just don’t understand the mind of the depressive, and how he or she processes information. The point is, the depressive’s mind isn’t “wrong”; it’s different, and people need to develop an empathetic approach. As the film progresses, the layered meaning of the title makes itself apparent.

As much as I don’t care for awards shows, ‘A Real Pain’ has been picking up slews of nominations and wins, for both Eisenberg and Culkin; the latter as “supporting actor”. I see him more as a co-star than merely supporting actor, but that’s Hollywood politics, I suppose. As a character study, this film just blew me away. And yes; I suppose that it would be classified as an “art house” entry, although I hope that the label doesn’t scare people off.

It has moments of humour, drama and pathos, and reminds us all about the challenges of being human. I was lucky enough to have caught the movie on the big screen, although I’ll be sure to drop by and re-watch it on Disney+, and I daresay that I will discover new perceptual angles in a second viewing.

Tat Wolfen is a multimedia communicator, entertainment commentator and leisure journalist. Tune in for Tat’s razor-sharp takes on the latest on stage and screen, every week on The Sandton Times Hour – Mondays at 7pm on 91.9FM or on a fine selection of the world’s leading podcast platforms. [Disclaimer: Views expressed by reviewers/contributors are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of The Sandton Times and its ownership or management.]

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