can't get over how jesse eisenberg wrote a scene about how beautiful his feet are

"hey why are you walking alone, are you a big fuckin' loser?"

edit 6/4/25: i met kieran and told him i have the second highest letterboxd review for a real pain and he said he doesn't know what letterboxd is 😭🙏

This one runs almost exactly 90 minutes. That makes it a beautiful little short story, primarily about the agony of being a David when you so desperately want to be a Benji and have only just discovered that being a Benji is agony too.

“my pain is unexceptional, so I don’t feel the need to burden everyone with it” is the realist shit I’ve heard all year — everyone in this is fantastic

"you light up a room and then you shit on everything inside of it."

We are all tourists in each other’s pain, even those we love. Kieran Culkin gives such an organic, raw performance. You’ll be hearing about it all year.

More: www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-real-pain-film-review

great movie about the pros and cons of having a charismatic cousin

this is a movie about two people named David and Benjamin whose grandmother survived the Holocaust by fleeing Poland in 1938.

my name is David Benjamin and my grandfather survived the Holocaust by fleeing Poland in *1939,* so sadly i could not relate. still liked it tho.

congratulations on your oscar kieran culkin

kieran is so obviously outstanding, but on a second watch i’m struck by just how strong and stirring jesse’s work is as well, especially when supporting kieran’s more outwardly spirited performance and subtly filling in the blanks of his sorrow and their rocky relationship - sometimes simply with a worried glance or a tremble in the tone of his voice. it’s the best he’s been since the social network, and his Big Scene in the restaurant might just be the best he’s been period.

pains, trains and automobiles

hits different when you can relate to both of them.