(For Day 13 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem in the same unique stanza/rhyme form as Donald Justice’s “There is a gold light in certain old paintings.”)

Truth is beauty and beauty is truth, said Keats,
Yet beauty is beloved and truth is hard.
If truths were as easy on the eyes as beauty,
They wouldn’t be hidden and hated and hard,
            Veiled under changing subjects and yelling and smiles.
            Truth is pain, and nothing hides pain as well as smiles.

Horrors happen, in countries and eras far-flung
And houses next door, just out of earshot.
Tragedies are nothing new, so must they all hurt?
Every life snuffed, innocence scarred, or errant shot?
            If I don’t care when strangers shed their distant tears,
            Why would anyone share my own predestined tears?

There’s something rare in a tragedy endured,
Like insight begotten by blindness run amok.
A lack of tragedy is apathy’s recipe,
And the world hates apathy running amok.
            Pain cycles, cloaked in smiles and history lessons,
            Wondering when there will be no need for lessons.
__________________________

MPA rating: R (for frequent language)

The sophomore directorial effort of Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain doesn’t live up to its name, in that it’s actually quite a pleasure. This familial dramedy pairs Eisenberg as David Kaplan with Kieran Culkin as his maverick of a cousin Benji, both of whom join a Jewish heritage tour in Poland to see where their late grandmother once lived before the Holocaust. While David is reserved and slightly neurotic, Benji is an unfiltered free spirit bordering on bipolar, attentive to strangers yet generally inconsiderate, the life of the party yet quick to complain if something rubs him the wrong way. (Having just been on a European tour several months ago, I’m grateful that my group didn’t include a Benji.) 

With good reason, Culkin received universal acclaim for his layered performance, though I think Eisenberg deserved some of that love as well, more than just for the Oscar-nominated screenplay he also wrote. Benji is easily the most memorable character, both of the film and in the minds of his fellow tourgoers, but I found Eisenberg’s more understated role to be more relatable, always trying to keep up and apologize for his cousin’s eccentricities yet loving him despite it, a dichotomy that bubbles to the surface in an especially emotional dinner scene.

As a writer-director, Eisenberg also handles the tone with skilled sensitivity. The banter between David and Benji is frequently funny yet can easily segue to latent grief or lingering anxiety, and the visit to the Majdanek concentration camp plays out in near silence, as their tour guide (Will Sharpe) says, letting the haunting location speak for itself. Realistic in its open-ended return to “normal life,” A Real Pain is a testament to generational trauma and strained family dynamics, both of which are sadly all too common.

Best line: (Marcia, on their tour) “David, we numb ourselves to avoid thinking about our impact.”
(Eloge, another tourist) “Ignoring the proverbial slaughterhouse to enjoy the steak, as it were.”
(Benji) “Yes, Eloge! Damn, that’s a good analogy.”
(David) “No, and I get that, I get all that. It just seems like maybe there’s, like, a time and a place to grieve, and maybe it’s not…”
(Benji) “Yo, Dave.”
(David) “What?”
(Benji) “We’re on a f***ing Holocaust tour. If now is not the time and place to grieve, to open up, I don’t know what to tell you, man.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting