A Real Pain (Blu-ray Review)
I have a confession to make. When I hear about actors making directorial debuts, sometimes I think to myself: “Again??” I often wonder if it’s the natural progression of actors to want to do something they’ve observed their directors doing for so long. Maybe they’ve got gestating thoughts on what they’d do if they had the chance to run a show of their own. Sometimes, my beleaguered response is worthwhile. Other times, there are films coming from talented artists that do more than just act. Now that my confession has been made, we can get to the meat and potatoes of this feast – A Real Pain! By the time Jesse Eisenberg’s film came to Hulu and physical media, it had already become a sensation in festivals and racked up tons of award nods for Kieran Culkin, winning a Golden Globe for him and the film respectively. So how is it coming from an everyman movie fan perspective you ask? Find out and see if the film truly is A Real Pain.
Film
A Real Pain follows mismatched cousins, David and Benji (Eisenberg and Culkin), who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
A Real Pain thrives on simplicity. As we meet David, he is on his way to meet Benji at the airport to make their trek to Poland. Grandma has just passed away and they want to pay her respects by touring her homeland and finding out more about their family history. They link up with a Holocaust tour with some others and their dry British tour guide. Day by day the tour is interesting but a little too fact heavy and slog-like for Benji. He’d rather enrich himself in the culture, make time to take fun photos and spend his evenings getting stoned reminiscing with David.
The pair have drifted apart over the years, with David settling down into fatherhood and Benji becoming a drifter of sorts. Benji thrives on spontaneity and the group of tourists: A couple tracing their Jewish roots, A woman trying to connect the dots as she feels lost (A lovely Jennifer Grey), and a survivor of the Rwandan genocide all find themselves drawn to Benji’s blunt yet down to earth honesty. After a particularly sharp critique while visiting an old cemetery in Lublin, David becomes embarrassed and then he reveals to the group the divide between Benji and himself.
A Real Pain glides by at a brisk 89 minutes. We miss nothing and need no backstory. Characters are where they’re at in that moment. The other tourists are along for the ride and mostly have their stuff together, just finishing the touches with this tour. Benji and David though, with their issues, whether it’s David’s embarrassment or Benji not wanting to change his free spirit, have a lot to work on.
By the end of the journey, there is a lot learned in a short time. Driven by smart performances from Jesse Eisenberg and a formidably excellent Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain thrives under the direction of Eisenberg too. He keeps the camerawork simple, and the score is all by celebrated Polish icon Frederic Chopin. His piano pieces keep the film grounded and calm even when it verges on chaos. And even when we think the film may tank into some craziness, things remain grounded. Events come up and we tag along, observing healing within the group and between the two estranged cousins. By the time we reach the end, we are in the airport practically begging them to reconcile completely just because we can tell they’ve meant so much to one another for so long.
I felt that A Real Pain showed a lot of heart in its subtle humor and light drama. It didn’t rely on melodrama or histrionics to get the job done and definitely deserves the love it has been shown during the festival and film awards seasons. I do wonder if people are watching the film now that it’s arriving on Blu-ray and is readily available on Hulu. It’s a wonderful thing to find something thoroughly mature, interesting, simple and just downright nice to watch without having to resort to CGI or a franchise property. A Real Pain is the real deal.
Video
Encoding: MPEG-4/AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
HDR: N/A
Layers: BD-50
Clarity/Details: A Real Pain is a simple story that is also lensed simply. Shots are always filmed in a way that places you in the group as an observer and in this setting, there is much to behold visually. Save for a very dark moment in a concentration camp, everything holds together excellently.
Depth: Lensing on the film is simple, and nothing moves at a pace that would make anything blurry or out of focus, so depth of field is spot-on.
Black Levels: Blacks are handled admirably throughout with shadow detail and darker shades of gray and black looking well here. Again, a scene at a concentration camp is a little bit harsh with the shadows, but nothing to truly complain about.
Color Reproduction: Colors are often warm and simple, giving nice renderings to primary colors throughout. Sometimes, I noticed a blue tint to Poland, but I think that adds to the charm of the overall look of A Real Pain.
Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural here.
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio
Audio Format(s): English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, French, Spanish, German Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French, German, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, Swedish
Dynamics: A Real Pain is a film built on the dialogue. There aren’t a lot of loud moments and it’s either Chopin’s music or the players on screen you hear. Outdoor sound effects aren’t abundant and LFE doesn’t live in this mix.
Height: N/A
Low-Frequency Extension: Nothing to write home about, but a dramedy set on a holocaust tour in Poland does not an action movie make.
Surround Sound Presentation: A few light moments of ambience come to the surrounds to play, along with the subtle music.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is the star of the show and you never miss a moment.
Extras
Extras for A Real Pain are sparse, A short documentary called Beautiful Fate: Making A Real Pain that last just under 20 minutes. While short, the doc provides enough info the keep it going for that time and is satisfying in that way.
With all the awards and critical praise, it would’ve been nice to get just a little more on disc, but a disc is being released, and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day.
A Real Pain is coming to Blu-ray from Searchlight/Disney/Sony with a slipcover and digital code.
Summary
A Real Pain is that rare treat of a film made for adults who like their films with a touch of intelligence. The movie plays quick and mellow but handles some very heavy subject matter in that subtext. Its approach is simple and refreshing and Kieran Culkin gives an incredible performance as Benji. Jesse Eisenberg shows a deft hand at simple directing, giving his actors the space to play, and giving Poland an opportunity to shine as well. It’s also wonderful to see Jennifer Grey again, even if she’s just a part of the tour troupe. Technical merits are sound for the simple film and for collectors, this is the ideal way to watch the film at home!
Order your copy of A Real Pain HERE
Adam Toroni-Byrne
Adam is a lifelong physical media collector. His love of collecting began with a My First Sony radio and his parent's cassette collection. Since the age of 3, Adam has collected music on vinyl, tape and CD and films on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray. Adam likes to think of himself as the queer voice of Whysoblu. Outside of his work as a writer at Whysoblu, Adam teaches preschool and trains to be a boxer although admittedly, he's not very good.
