A Real Pain
Written, directed and starring Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain is a road trip, buddy flick like you've never experienced before.
Sure, we've been treated to some stellar road movies in the past – from the self-destructive rebel yell of Ridley Scott's Thelma and Louise, the subtle soul searching of Alexander Payne's Sideways, and even the redemptive glory of Peter Farrelly's Green Book – a good road flick should bring you on an enjoyable yet rocky journey that's as spiritually uplifting as much as it is a rewarding and cathartic release.
Eisenberg's film does exactly that, giving us a story that's deeply profound yet unapologetically funny, with characters you can't help but fall in love with.
The action follows oddball long lost cousins Benji and David Kaplan who have reunited in the wake of their grandmother's death to embark on a trip to her homeland in Poland.
A Holocaust survivor, their grandmother was an instrumental part of the boys' lives as they grew up and, even though they grew apart as they reached adulthood, both Benji and David have somehow maintained a close and unbreakable bond.
While David is naturally nervous and polite to a fault, Benji is a bit of a wild card, taking each day as it comes.
Their tour of Poland exposes painful emotional scars that have refused to heal since their grandmother's passing, and their journey to visit the horrors of her past as well as her fight for survival will change both David and Benji's approach to life forever.
While Jesse Eisenberg plays David with his trademark, everyman charm and simplicity, Kieran Culkin delivers a performance that sees the actor sink into the skin of a man who freewheels through life, yet has been left torn, tussled and shaken by the loss of his grandmother.
It's one of those performances whereby you feel completely at ease with sympathetic with a character who I think we can all relate to in some way or another.
Like Eisenberg's simple and honest style of directing, Culkin performance here is one of painful clarity and honesty.
A beautiful film that's both uplifting and sombre, A Real Pain will stay long in your mind and heart long after the credits have closed. Do not miss it.
Maria
Following his films Jackie and Spencer, Chilean director Pablo Larraín completes his trilogy that focuses on history's most iconic and tortured women, and he couldn't have picked a better muse with the opera legend, Maria Callas.
Starring the stunning Angelina Jolie, Maria aims to shed some light on Callas' tumultuous life and discover what made this talented yet wounded genius tick.
For Jolie, this is the a role of a lifetime, and an opportunity to show us just how magnetic a screen siren is actually is. Set in 1977, we first meet Maria in her twilight years, looking back ruefully on her life. We learn of her rise to fame, and her struggles to hold on to the aching, soulful beauty of her magnificent voice.
As biopics go, Maria is much as you'd expect. While Larraín has not doubt mastered the art of capturing the glamour and style of times long past, this is a film that keeps the 'truth' just out of reach, with myth and majesty of this legendary songstress as ambiguous as it was at the beginning.
If you're a sucker for biographies and enjoy exquisite style, Maria will deliver the goods.
