A Real Pain

This is gonna be huge and hyped and all the rest of it, but it does look good - and how fantastic is Culkin?! What a revelation since Succession.

https://youtu.be/2zu44E0hj4E?si=UCmHuIhu1utRk2LM

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058387311/a-real-pain

Saw it a couple months ago, really enjoyed. Two brilliant performances, and it does a good job of steering away from any cliché road-trip life-changing revelations. It's a bit more balanced and nuanced, with two cousins getting a snapshot of each others lives after having spent some time apart.

Royale with Cheese

A modern movie with a 90 minute runtime? Yes please.

fatbhoy

The title sums up the experience for me. 6/10

El Duda

A Real Pain – 9/10

I thought this was brilliant. Given that it’s a buddy-comedy that takes place during a Holocaust tour of Poland, it could so easily have been a car crash if in the wrong hands, but first time writer/director Jesse Eisenberg’s judgment was bang on. It’s perfectly pitched, with plenty of laughs without ever feeling distasteful. 

The chemistry between the leads is great and Kieran Culkin is superb. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a male lead fizz on screen like this. I recognize so much of one of my friends in his character. The type of bloke who can talk the hind legs off a donkey, who strolls into any situation beaming with confidence and doesn’t appear to have any sense of self awareness. To create a character that is often unbearably annoying, but also someone who has many envious traits, and for that level of complexity to register with an audience takes some doing. 

There are several emotional nuggets that build up in the second half of the film, that when combined equate to something more than the sum of their parts. It packs the emotional punch without feeling manipulative or even having so much as a swell of sentimental score. It was just raw, understated, relatable emotion that hit me hard and has left me feeling choked up, even a day later. That’s when I know I’ve seen something special.

The Holocaust elements are handled with a real elegance, the script is sharp and witty, and despite sounding like it might be heavy going, it makes for super easy laid-back viewing. I’m glad Culkin won the Golden Globe, even though I think he’s a bit creepy.

He does seem a bit of an oddball - and pretty similar to the characters he plays. The whole "Dude... be cool" and non stop sarcastic quips shtick (which of course masks his totally evil tendencies as Roman Roy early on) - one-trick pony maybe, but he does it SO well.

JP Liz V1

It seems it was producer Emma Stone who got Culkin to stay in the film

santana75

When I saw the trailer for this I thought it looked like another movie where people bicker endlessly, talk about how something or someone made them feel, with the odd comedic moment thrown in to break the tension. And I was gonna give it a miss altogether but I'm a firm believer in actually watching a movie and then making a judgement as opposed to making a judgement without ever seen the film. So I went to see it last night and.......I was right, it's another movie where people bicker a lot, talk about their feelings with a bit of comedy relief every once in a while. It's depressing in its narrative and it's predictability. Kieran Culkin's character is obnoxious and unlikable, the part where he berates the poor tour guide is ugly. The film actually starts off well and I was optimistic thinking it was gonna be like that movie "The way" with martin sheen, which I liked a lot. Alas this film doesn't have half the charm as that movie and in the end the whole thing is just depressing. I saw a movie over Christmas called "The bishops wife", it was made in 1947 and it is an absolute joy. I wish hollywood would get back to making films like that, uplifting with a great message instead of these depressing films that are ultimately empty and about nothing at all. Which is what this movie is.

@santana75

@santana75 - that was remade as The Preacher's Wife.

Thelonious Monk

Saw it last night, it's entertaining, not really funny but the dialogue is good at times. Never been to Poland but the cities looked gorgeous. Culkin doing his Culkin stuff.

What a joy though to go to a 90 min film, everything seems to be at least 2h 15m these days.

dulpit

I saw this last night. I was disappointed in that I had hoped it was going to be a great 9/10 movie and it just wasn't for me. Some elements were excellent, some less so. Kieran Culkin's character was basically Roman Roy again, which is good (I guess?).

If I hadn't such high expectations in advance then I'd have enjoyed it more I think, but it's a solid 7/10 I think. And kudos for the shorter run time.

Yvonne007

I'm slightly taken aback by people lauding a short runtime. I mean, yes, don't inflate the runtime with unneccessary padding, but I quite enjoy film taking it's time to get to where it needs to be.

Brevity shouldn't trump necessity.

Thelonious Monk

I would definitely go to the cinema more if there were more 90 min films on show

What's the rush though? Apart from unnecessary padding as Yvonne said, I don't get it either.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123053983#Comment_123053983

Most long movies are unnecessarily long though. A long movie that is long because it needs to be is fine. But most aren't.

2ndcoming

I thought this was excellent, probably the best film I've seen since The Holdovers and I'd say it is better than that one. Films like these feel like such a novelty these days.

Regarding Kieran Culkin the character has very, very little in common with Roman Roy on paper if you take a step back. To me that's the mark of a good actor in that he puts a lot of himself into performances and adjusts for what the character needs. Think De Niro as Max Cady, Travis Bickle, the dad in A Bronx Life, Meet The Parents. All very different characters but all unmistakably De Niro performances. I'm not saying he's De Niro and I get some people might find him annoying but the methodology is similar.

I thought the pacing was excellent and the dynamic between the leads carried the film wherever it needed to go. It gave me a lot of Woody Allen vibes, in the best kind of way. Dialogue and character driven and never feeling forced.

Overall a strong thumbs up.

Banjaxed82

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123053979#Comment_123053979

Absolutely. The amount of films that could easily get away with 100mins.

And it's the most hollow, vacuous films that are the worst offenders.

artvanderlay

I was very underwhelmed by this. It was just a very slight film with very little story and characters I didn't care about. I'm not a fan of Kieran Culkin but gave him a chance today to see if he was able to deliver something different but it's just a minor variation on his usual schtick. HIs character is annoying and not charming despite us being told repeatedly how charming he is.

It's the same with Eisenberg: he plays pretty much the same type of character in everything, which can work with the right material (Social Network, Fleischman is in Trouble) but not here. He gave himself very little to do.

Even though the film was only 90 mins, for me it dragged. I don't get all the glowing reviews. 5/10 overrated.

p to the e

It was the kind of film that I didn't hate but will forget I ever saw it and in a few years will see it and say "did I see that?". Having gone inter-railing many moons ago it definitely brought back some memories. I haven't seen Succession so I can't comment on Culkin's similarity in performance but I thought he was the best thing in this.

In the trailer he's sold as the Walter Matthau to Eisenberg's Jack Lemon but it quickly becomes clear he's got some serious problems or maybe bi-polar and he plays both sides of the coin fantastically.

An average film with a fantastic performance from Culkin. 6/10

OP here. I loved it! I suppose it depends on whether you're into that kind of thing: family dynamics, surface level bits of psychology - inter-generational trauma in this case. Definitely my bag. Although my friend wasn't hugely pushed either. Lots of awkward, cringey, dry, I guess kinda Jewish humour? Which I again love so much. Kieran Culkin is superb, seamlessly veering all over the place from happy to angry to sad to charming to being a jerk... but with not a hint of malice. No filter or self awareness - loveable but excruciating but charismatic but pitiful. It's like he was maybe supposed to be an undiagnosed ADHD patient - so gregarious and extroverted and seemingly confident... yet not able to engage with anyone at a more intimate level. Seriously lonely despite it all.

Eisenberg is his stereotypically neurotic, nervous, uptight New Yorker self, but does it so well.

The rest of the cast are wonderful too, especially the tour guide and the Rwandan dude.

Beautifully written I thought. And gorgeously filmed. Poland has such classic beauty right next to the brutalist Soviet stuff. The concentration camp tour scenes are of course horribly sad, but gently and sensitively handled. That and a few other emotional scenes aren't overblown - it mostly stays light, which works best in this instance, imo.

I found it quite heartwarming and wholesome and sometimes that's all I need.

gmisk

Saw this today really enjoyed it, Kieran Culkin is obviously the scene stealer I can see why he is getting the awards attention, his character was both charming and horrible he broke my heart in places as did Eisenberg. Nice to see Jennifer Grey popping up too!

It moves at a nice pace and is beautifully shot and scripted. 8/10