There’s almost always that one person on a foreign travel excursion known for perpetually making the whole group late, constantly questioning the order of things and generally eclipsing the far-flung location with sheer force of personality. Kieran Culkin marvelously portrays such A Real Pain (B+) as one half of odd couple cousins abroad, opposite Jesse Eisenberg, who also wrote and directed the film. The gents’ mutual destination is Poland, where they trace Jewish family roots and trade barbs in an unlikely comedy set amidst a terrain of trauma. Culkin is a fabulous scene-stealer, full of bluster and usually brandishing a blunt, and Eisenberg holds his own as the uptight nebbish admiring and abhorring him in equal measure. In minor roles backing up this two-hander travelogue, Will Sharpe is solid as the group’s tour guide, and Jennifer Grey is delightful if a bit underused as an intriguing fellow traveler. In his mode as filmmaker, Eisenberg exerts incredible discipline telling the story of mismatched men on a mission while chronicling a concurrent commentary about the wry observations of traveling to painful places. Despite the novelty of most of the dramatic interactions, there is still an aching notion the film could have plumbed even deeper themes. In this artful production, subtle sentiment and amusing interactions go with the territory.
Premiered February 2023 at Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. Festival runs through Feb, 21, 2023 with tickets to an array of narrative and documentary films available here: https://ajff.org/
An empty nest couple caught in a rut experiences the truth serum of a lifetime when a charismatic stranger moves into the penthouse of their Israeli high rise and lures them into his hedonistic lifestyle in Moshe Rosenthal’s Karaoke (A-), a sly and sentimental story about coming of age later in life. Sasson Gabay and Rita Shikrun are a delight as the introverted husband and ebullient wife both irritated and intrigued by their new neighbor, suavely portrayed by Lior Ashkenazi. Questions of identity and fidelity ensue when the central characters experience a triangle of mild madness as they endeavor to march to the sonic sounds of an unexpected vocoder. Rosenthal orchestrates the observational comedy with finesse as his sixty-somethings embark on a rebellious detour and a rage against the FOMO. There are some tender sequences involving music and dance which add to the expression and character exploration. This international film is a solid companion piece to Parasite, as middle class mores become trumped and tested by those at the top. It’s a marvelous and affecting work worthy of a mic drop., as middle class mores become trumped and tested by those at the top. It’s a marvelous and affecting work worthy of a mic drop.
