A Real Pain Gets The Job Done
- trashtalkreverse
- Apr 21
- 5 min read
Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain hit Hulu amidst a successful awards circuit, and while the screenplay could've used some work, ultimately it gets the job done. Following two cousins reuniting after their grandmother's death to go on a tour in Poland, this film explores ideas around trauma while telling a story of healing through bonding.
The movie opens on a strange image of Benji in the airport, but then we get this great scene of David leaving him a million messages on the way over. He just kept going and going, and every time he finishes a message, you're wondering will there be another, and there is, SO MANY MORE. It's a really great character introduction for David and establishes the cousins' relationship while also setting the tone as this back and forth between serious and comedic. The banter between the men generally flows pretty naturally throughout the whole film, except the scene when they were on the roof smoking. That conversation felt a bit contrived, though still okay enough to get by.
The contrast between the cousins ends up creating plenty of natural conflict. At first, it felt like they maybe tried a little too hard to show how different Benji was from David, and also how everyone seemed to love Benji right away. Personally, if I was on that trip, I would have had the same reaction as David, like Benji was making loud exclamations in the middle of someone else's story and getting people to pose in front of a statue. But this authenticity and a seeming love for life was what attracted the rest of their tour group to his energy, for the time being.
However, later on the group's perception and overall dynamics do shift, and I really think the film does a good job putting us in David's shoes because again, I see Benji how David sees Benji. Benji getting mad and performative on the train and then again at the graveyard pissed me off so bad, I was literally thinking, "This dude is so damn annoying." Every time he said something about rich people this and that or how train tickets are bad, he sounded exactly like those performative losers on social media who want to feel like activists or let out their frustrations but don't actually take the time to understand why certain problems exist and how to actually do something.
The differences between David and Benji also allow the film to discuss some interesting thematic questions. I kinda get Benji's POV when he's talking to Marcia and Eloge, all thinking how can they be hanging around like this, going on a casual tour, ignoring the sad things going on in the world. Eloge in particular says he's baffled the world seems to go on like there aren't a million reasons to be shocked, which is fair enough. But again, I'm really with David when he comes in with the reality check that we can't be thinking about every single sad thing on the planet all the time.
These relationships with the others in their tour group are essential to the guys' story. I hated that James even acknowledged Benji's complaints, thanking him for the feedback so he can do better, like I don't know why we're validating Benji's request for a tour that would interfere with regular people's lives. But these moments certainly show that Benji is a person deeply plagued by personal struggles and highlights the complexity of David's relationship with him. All at the same time, he's embarrassed by Benji's actions, he cares for Benji because they're family and because he knows Benji's demons, and he's frustrated because all these other people seem to be better at connecting with and dealing with Benji than he is. However, these reactions from Benji also allow everyone else to feel more comfortable with David, and that evolving group dynamic becomes essential to the cousins' relationship over the course of the film.
These relationships and themes all come together in the emotional core of the film. There's a restaurant dinner scene with David talking about their grandma, and he drops a joke she made about how first generation immigrants do all the hard work, second generation kids achieve some level of prestige in careers, and third gen kids sit in the basement. As a child of immigrants myself, it was really quite an amusing observation, but Benji's hit kinda hard by this, asking David, "Did she really say that?" It subtly highlights his own feelings of failure, underlined by a concern that his grandmother with whom he was close may have seen him as such. This then sets up for David's confession to the others once Benji leaves the table.
With Benji gone, David unleashes his frustrations to his new companions into a genuinely powerful monologue in which he reveals, near the end, that Benji attempted to end his life not too long ago, and we can see this destroyed David inside. I feel like in any other movie, this sort of scene probably wouldn't have worked. It would've felt too typical or overly wordy or contrived, especially with that classic zoom in on the subject down the center of the table. But for some reason, it just works here.
Jesse Eisenberg's delivery is incredibly powerful, and the relationships developed up to now help set up this moment. These people know both him and Benji but don't carry the baggage of knowing them prior to this trip, so I can see this moment as kind of cathartic for him. I especially liked when he mentioned, "I know that my pain is unexceptional so I don't burden everybody with it." That line really hits at who David is, how he views and deals with his trauma, and why this trip and these connections are genuinely important for his journey going forward.
I know several moments in this movie such as this monologue are sort of just telling us straight up what's going on with the backstory, but I'm surprisingly okay with it because this is the type of movie where we're kinda just along for the experience and seeing the cousins grow. The follow-up scene between David and Benji in which David finally addresses his devastation upon hearing what Benji did is also incredibly emotional.
There are also more subtle and light moments to balance it out like the scene outside their grandma's old house with the rocks and the neighbors. This was actually pretty fun and offered a nice change of pace. It provides an interesting contrast to all the landmarks they visited before during the tour, which still stand and preserve the memory of the past, while their grandmother's house is now already occupied by someone else.
Shortly after this, the film comes to a close, David returns to his family, and Benji's sitting at the airport alone as in the opening. It's kind of a strange ending and I wouldn't say I loved it, but with their farewell hug, there's some hope that David and Benji will continue to reach out to each other after their experiences on this trip.
Overall, I did like the movie. It was a simple premise and a simple story, nothing too crazy. It's a very vibe-y film where you're along for the trip, you get to know the characters, and you think about their story and their outlook on the world. Sure, the screenplay could've used some revisions, and there may have been a bit of an overreliance on Chopin throughout the film, but overall it did what it needed to do and that's really all that matters. Ultimately, it's a solid story with well developed characters and emotional complexity, and it's definitely worth a watch.
