Film Picks: A Real Pain, The Brutalist, Barbara

A Real Pain (M18)

90 minutes, now showing

★★★★☆

The film opens like a classic buddy comedy. In an airport departure lounge, viewers meet the nitpicky David (Jesse Eisenberg) and his personality opposite and cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin), a creature of impulse who speaks with no filter but is as charming as David is off-puttingly nervous.

They are headed to Poland to join a group of mostly American Jews learning about their ancestral land, with a focus on the Holocaust. Their tour leader is James (Will Sharpe), an Englishman nerdily fascinated by Jewish suffering.

Usually, buddy comedies are built around a purpose that chains the pair together, such as a police investigation, getaway or heist. In A Real Pain, written and directed by Eisenberg, there is no grand purpose – these are average men trying to get along because they owe it to each other.

In this low-stakes environment, thick with the absurdity of a luxury tour taking place amid sites of historical suffering, the audience gets an insight into the men’s messy, medicated lives. Slowly, the gentle satire that mocks two privileged Americans drawing on the past to heal their fractured present gives way to something deeper and sadder.

Culkin’s performance as Benji, lovable and insufferable in equal measure, is a revelation. He deserves the Best Supporting Actor that he won at the recent British Academy Film Awards, as well as the nomination he earned in the same category at the Oscars in March.

The Brutalist (R21)

215 minutes (with a 15-minute intermission), now showing

★★★★☆

Hungarian architect Laszlo Toth (Adrien Brody) arrives in the United States seeking a fresh start, while his wife Erzsebet (Felicity Jones) stays trapped in post-World War II Hungary. Through his cousin Attila (Alessandro Nivola), he meets industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), who seeks to create a community centre that will bear his mother’s name.

Paired with the expansive cinematography of Lol Crawley, Laszlo’s excitement at explaining the significance of each architectural detail is thrillingly communicated – this is not just a building, but also a means of redemption for a man carrying the weight of the worst horrors of the 20th century.

The casting of Brody brings to mind his Oscar-winning portrayal in The Pianist (2002). He is now a front runner in the Best Actor category at the Academy Awards in March. The film has nine other Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture.

Without Brody’s electrifying ability to communicate longing, excitement and, in one instance, madness, the screenplay would have felt like a self-indulgent ode to the plight of the artist. Brody’s humanity anchors the film.

Barbara (PG13)

105 minutes, limited screenings at The Projector

Set in 1980s East Germany, the story follows Dr Barbara Wolff (Nina Hoss), a physician assigned to a rural hospital for the crime of applying for an exit visa. She works with Dr Reiser (Ronald Zehrfeld), a colleague who is also an informant for the secret police.

She continues to plot her escape to the West with her lover Jorg (Mark Waschke). However, her plans are complicated by her growing sense of responsibility for her patients.

For his 2012 work, celebrated German writer-director Christian Petzold won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film was the German entry to the best foreign language Oscar category.

In a review, The Guardian newspaper says: “The weird oppression and seediness of the times is elegantly captured, and Hoss coolly conveys Barbara’s highly strung desperation.”

The film is screened as part of Kult Kino, a monthly film programme co-presented by the Goethe-Institut Singapore and The Projector.

Where: The Projector at Golden Mile Tower, 05-00 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road
MRT: Nicoll Highway
When: Feb 22, 5pm, and March 2, 2pm
Admission: $6
Info:

theprojector.sg/films-and-events/barbara