David Kaplan: Yeah
Tale
The mismatched cousins reunite for a trip to Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when old tensions between the odd couple resurface amid their family history. When Benji and David visit their grandmother’s home in Poland, the setting is where Jesse Eisenberg;s real-life ancestors settled in the diaspora. Benji Kaplan: We stay moving, we stay light, we stay agile. Benji Kaplan: The conductor comes over, takes tickets, we tell him we’re going to the bathroom. David Kaplan: Bathroom. Benji Kaplan: He gets on the back of the train, heads to the front, and looks for her. David Kaplan: I’m sorry, are we the vagrants?
Benji Kaplan: Yeah
By the time he gets to the front, the train will be at the station and we’ll be free to go home. David Kaplan: That’s fucking stupid. Tickets are probably like twelve dollars. Benji Kaplan: That’s the principle of the thing. We shouldn’t have to pay for train tickets in Poland. This is our country. David Kaplan: No, this was our country. They fired us because they thought we were cheap.
Appears in CBS News Sunday Morning: Episode 4644 (2024)
12 Etudes, Op. 25, No. 3 in F Major Written by Frederic Chopin Performed by Tzvi Erez. "We stay moving, we stay light, we stay agile." Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) True Grit is a comedy, yes, beautifully crafted by writer/director Jesse Eisenberg, but it’s also a serious drama about the differences between two Jewish cousins who travel to Poland to honor their recently deceased grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. This buddy movie explores two different characters, their relationship to each other, and their Jewish history. David (Eisenberg) is John Milton’s Il Penseroso, and Benji is L’Allegro, two opposites, the former characterized by melancholy and the latter by cheerfulness. David is the down-to-earth, dorky, contemplative, and Benji (Kieran Culkin) is the off-the-wall biker mouth whose pleasures nonetheless make you think. His advice to David (above) to stay calm as they avoid paying for their train ticket is matched by David’s careful thinking and Benji’s stuff.
Writer/director Eisenberg never lets either character judge him
Benji is more of a funny, smart guy besides being a bipolar nut. -The man is too smart to say stupid things and too immature to tone it down. The sympathetic soul of the film lies in his character, who connects with the other Holocaust tourists in an inspired way that makes them remember him. But when they tour the concentration camp, they barely say a word: as if the history of the genocide is too difficult for words. Only Benji’s words make a difference, advising his guide, the non-Jewish James (Will Sharpe), to find true emotion in the statistics he offers. While Benji may have his own opinions, he still finds himself drawn to the likeable Rwandan Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), a convert to Judaism, and the middle-aged Marcia (Jennifer Grey), a melancholic waiting to be freed from the sadness of divorce. Despite Benji’s recent serious, dark moment, David worries about his rootless, charismatic cousin. The director delicately portrays the complexity of human personality and the differences between family members, regardless of circumstance.
This light-hearted comedy is a serious contender for an Oscar
Even more than its balanced portrayal of two completely different relatives, A Real Pain better showcases the emotional benefits of L’Allegro and the grounded reality of family. Il Penseroso. After all, they are blood relatives, almost siblings, who are very different from each other, but are bound by the Holocaust and their grandmother’s story, just like us, who are trying to understand the horror and joy of life. It’s a buddy movie, but it’s all about the words, not the plot, like in Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid. From Alien: Romulus to Road House, look back at some of our favorite posters of 2024.