A dreary grey January day in Glasgow, brightened up by a visit to Glasgow Film Theatre just off Sauchiehall Street to see ‘A Real Pain’, written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg.
The showing I went to see was at 8.30 pm in Screen 1. About half an hour before showtime I was loitering in the lobby of the cinema when a tsunami of people came gushing down the stairs which lead up to that auditorium. The sudden appearance of such a huge mob of people was startling and I retreated to the street outside to let the pandemonium subside.
When the coast was clear I headed back into the cinema. I asked the ticket-taker at Screen 1 about the crowd of people and he said it was a private screening for a charity organisation. He added, ‘When I came in today I was expecting a quiet shift. I had to switch gears quickly!’
Screen 1 at GFT is a wonderful auditorium. It’s large, elegant and comfortable, with a decent-sized screen.
Before the main film there was a showing of a very entertaining 3-minute Norwegian short film titled ‘Ball’ by Fridtjof Stensaeth Josefson. It was very funny, a perfect appetizer for the main film.
‘A Real Pain’ turned out to be brilliant. Funny in parts, it is also very poignant in places. Kieran Culkin is very good as Benji Kaplan, the volatile troubled cousin of the more staid David Kaplan played by Jesse Eisenberg. The awkward chemistry between the two works very well, helped by an excellent script.
Another highlight of this film is Will Sharpe’s performance as humble self-effacing tour guide James. The encounters between James and Benji are emotionally loaded and quite gripping.
The horrors of the Holocaust are conveyed in a very sensitive, moving way as the tour group visits one of the concentration camps in Poland.
The ending of ‘A Real Pain’ perfectly captures the different paths that the two cousins’ lives have taken.