Reactions: Moved, Loved it, I cried
Where to watch: Hulu

I loved this movie. Jesse Eisenberg wrote and directed it and hats off to him. It’s a short but powerful movie.

Kieran Culkin absolutely deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Wow. I liked him in Succession but I absolutely was blown away by his performance in A Real Pain.

I think what moved me most was the deep and poignant exploration of pain and generational trauma across multiple fronts. We witness Benji’s deep grief and pain regarding the loss of his grandma. David misses the relationship he had with his best friend, while also secretly hating him for things we learn about throughout the movie. And then there’s the generational trauma experienced by the Jewish group on a tour of their ancestral land.

Let me take a moment to talk about this. I don’t personally experience generational trauma. I don’t come from a people who’ve suffered in that way. And yet, I’ve found myself so moved and empathetic to friends of various backgrounds who’ve shared their stories of diaspora and generational trauma with me over the recent years. I can’t imagine what it must be like, but I’m thankful for friends who’ve shared with me and for movies like this that help me understand and relate to it better.

On that note, there’s a massive trigger warning. The group visits a concentration camp in Poland. I cried hard. Fuck, I’m crying as I write this and those images flood my brain again. It’s rough. It’s powerful. But it’s something we need to see and be reminded of, now more than ever.

I loved A Real Pain so much. Go watch it.