*SPOILER ALERT—Family is supposed to be a place to come home to, but what about someone who finds it hard to come home to their family? David and Benji will illustrate how caring can be the source of deepest wounds. Jesse Eisenberg returns as a director in his second movie “A Real Pain (2024)”. This movie received a lot of praise from critics and audiences, because of the mature screenplay and the way David and Benji’s relationship was portrayed. A Real Pain received a rating of 7.1/10 on IMDb from 77 thousand viewers. Here are some of the things that are praised about this movie:
Anti-Classic Story Pattern
One of the most interesting things about A Real Pain is the way it tells the main character’s emotional journey in an unusual way. Instead of following a classic story pattern—i.e. a clear beginning, conflict, and resolution. Throughout the story, we will see how Benji’s emotions are made to go up and down like a coller coaster, making us more able to feel the character’s journey. One of the most powerful scenes is when David confides in Benji – he’s jealous of Benji’s easygoing personality, but also annoyed that Benji doesn’t know how to utilize his ‘talent’. Especially after knowing that Benji once tried to commit suicide using sleeping pills due to frustration, making him feel admiration and hatred for David at the same time.
Usually, in other movies, scenes like this would be made dramatic, like Benji would be eavesdropping from behind, but Eisenberg doesn’t use that trite trick. Instead, the movie shows us David’s monologue, allowing us to get inside his mind. Here we are made aware of one thing: humans always feel that other people’s lives are better. Benji wants a ‘normal’ life like Dave—having a steady job, wife, kids—while Dave is jealous of Benji’s freedom and charisma.
The Implied Meaning Behind the Movie Ending
The ending of the movie will make you fail to move on, when Benji chooses to stay at the airport, not because he doesn’t have a home, but more because he feels that no one really cares. When he says, “There are a lot of crazy people here,” he might as well be talking about himself. The airport is the most suitable place for him-a place where people come and go with no strings attached, just like how he’s lived his life so far. Sadly, David doesn’t pick up on this code. It could be that Benji really wants David to force him to come along, so that he knows someone really cares about him more than just lip service.
A Real Pain depicts a bromance story that is warm, meaningful, and makes us reflect. This movie is not only a drama between characters, but also teaches us to reflect on our own relationships—making me think of my cousin when I watched it. Anyway, this movie is really cool, there are many brilliant aspects that are difficult to detail one by one. For those of you who are jealous of other people’s lives, it can really be the other way around too!
