Helga without the H

Almost every year I attempt (with varying degrees of success) to watch as many Oscar nominees as possible before the ceremony. I post half-assed reviews here on my blog, and then at the end I write up some sort of silly analysis, predictions, reactions, etc. The quantity and quality depends entirely on how much time and energy I have each year, and I’m not gonna lie, this year’s already starting pretty dang rough! But let’s see how it goes. Today we turn to:

A Real Pain

[2 nominations for best original screenplay and supporting actor (Kieran Culkin)]

This is the first review I’m writing after the nominees have been announced. However, I watched it anticipating nominations based on how it did at the Golden Globes. After the Golden Globes, I tried to get ahead of the Oscar nominees by binging the most-likely nominees that were available to me. Often I wind up watching some stuff that ends up getting diddly squat, but this year I did great: Conclave, Emilia Perez, and Anora are all up for the top prize, and A Real Pain has two major nominations. And I’ve gotta say, of these four, A Real Pain is so far hands-down my favorite.

This was a fantastic movie. And it is being nominated in the most appropriate categories. The script on this thing was soooooooo much better than those for the best picture nominees. So, SO much better. It was so smart and funny and touching. I was absolutely captivated. I was feeling real feelings. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, not because the plot was engrossing, but because the characters were engrossing. I was holding back tears at all the touching moments. I was on pins and needles wondering what our characters (well, really just what Kieran Culkin’s character) would do next. This film just felt so, so real. I can relate to a lot of elements of this film, and maybe that’s why it’s speaking to me so much more than the other films (which makes sense- I’ve never been a transgender Mexican drug lord, or an exotic dancer married to a Russian oligarch’s son, or a Catholic bishop tasked with selecting the right hand of God.) Instead, I come from Eastern European immigrants who came to the US fleeing terrors of WW2. I also have people I am close to who struggle with various mental health challenges. So those things are all very direct.

But I also happened to have lost a very dear friend immediately after I started this film, which has had me all up in my feelings being completely raw. This film kicked me right in the gut again and again and again. I’ve been seeing my dead friend everywhere, especially in the first few days after he passed. Mostly it’s been bringing up tons of very pleasant memories. This film tapped into that, because I saw so many similarities between Culkin’s character (at least early in the film) and my friend. There are those people who, when they walk into a room, make everyone feel special. The people who just light up the room and brighten the day of everyone they encounter. Culkin did that with his tour group in this film, and my friend did it in real life. The similarities end there (my friend was NOT a troubled, inconsiderate degenerate- far from it!), but this element of the character was a huge part of the story. Between Eisenberg’s script and Culkin’s performance, they managed to really bring this guy (both the jovial elements described above, plus all of his other complexities) to life in a way I rarely see in film.

This main reason I hold this film in higher esteem than the other nominees thus far is in its ability to explore serious concepts with depth. That depth is completely missing from the other films, and I’ve said so much in my reviews. I loved the issues explored in Conclave, but it barely scratched the surface of each, much like a 2nd grader’s report on France. Don’t even get me started on Emilia Perez again. But A Real Pain dug so much deeper. At times, to be fair, the film did more telling than showing, as so much came across in just conversations between characters. But there was also so much said in the silent moments. Eisenberg basically grinding his teeth through the whole film spoke volumes about his character (before he finally had a big speech pouring out all the pent-up anxiety we’ve been watching him struggle to contain.) The visit to the concentration camp was presented, I think, perfectly. We’d already seen Culkin’s character have random crazy explosions, or acting inappropriately in somber settings. What, for the love of God, was this idiot going to do? What crazy shit were we about to see? I was so worried for this scene. But instead, the characters went quiet. The soundtrack went quiet. The gravity and sorrow of the location and occasion hits our characters hard, but also hits the audience right in the gut. I’ve never visited a concentration camp, but I have been to some very sobering historical sites (KGB prison, Holocaust mass execution/burial site, WWI battlefields and mass grave in Verdun, etc.) The feeling of being in those places just cannot be replicated without being there in person. But this film comes pretty much as close as I’ve ever seen. It’s the quiet. The quiet is what gets you.

Eisenberg’s script dances between humor and misery with skill and ease. It’s a perfect depiction of real life, and of how we deal with the people and situations around us. I was very pleasantly surprised when the credits popped up and I saw that he wasn’t just the lead, but also the writer and director. Kudos to him. I wish this film were nominated for Best Picture, because of the nominees thus far, it is easily the most deserving. But I dunno, maybe it’s too quiet. Or maybe it depended a little too much on dialogue and/or Chopin tunes. Maybe it just wasn’t sexy enough. But I loved it.

I’m realizing I’m done with this review, but didn’t mention the spectacular side characters! This was a small cast; we primarily focus on Eisenberg and Culkin, who were of course phenomenal. But they are traveling with a small tour group, and I really appreciated the performances and perspectives of these foils. I particularly loved the tour guide, who was doing his best to roll with Culkin’s behavior. I don’t know the actor’s name, but he did a bang-up job.