Why am I saying that its not a real pain writing this movie review?
It is a good movie showing the two pathways in life. Either the conventional journey from cradle to grave, or the avante garde path that seeks meaning and joy in the moment.
Here we have two Jewish cousins who say they were almost like brothers when they were young children. They grew up choosing different paths.
Kieran Culkin plays Benjamin “Benji” Kaplan, who’s in pain but his agony is a real pain to people around him. In real life, he’s Macaulay Culkin’s brother, and one of the seven siblings in their family. Culkin is married to Jazz Charton, whose present work is an essayist contributor to the Financial Times Weekend Edition. I’ve read her charming, witty and entertaining essays.
Jesse Eisenberg acts as David Kaplan, the boring stereotype who obeys the parental dictation and is expected to pass on the same book to his son Abe. Eisenberg wears three hats as the writer, director and actor of the character who’s the protagonist to Benji’s antagonism.
If you’re a sticker for tradition and fairy tale endings, you’ll identify David as the protagonist & Benji as his nemesis antagonist.
If you’re the advocate for freedom and creativity, you’ll name Benji as the protagonist, and David as the antagonist. You have your rights.
This is not a review that narrates the story of the movie. To read the chronological narrative, visit wikipedia’s webpage on A Real Pain here. IMDB webpage has photos from the movie here.
Watch this movie.
My rating for A Real Pain is 4 stars out of 5 stars.
My watercolor painting of the main characters in A Real Pain:
