“A Real Pain.” / “The Marsh King's Daughter.” / “10,000 Saints.”

“A Real Pain” (2024, Hulu) buddy road comedy-drama film written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. Stars Mr Eisenbeg, the perennially well-loved nerd, and Kieran Culkin, the perennially fun pain in the butt. They are Jewish American cousins who travel to Poland to honor their late grandmother. 

       As the Kaplans, David and Benji, navigate their mismatched terrain, they are joined by a few diverse characters. But it's all about the cousins. Major reason why this little movie worked is because we essentially see ourselves in them, but sans overwrought sentimentalism and “cinematic” antics. No tears, no chases, no yelling.

       This movie was named one of the top ten films of 2024 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute. Mr Culkin won Best Supporting Actor at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards. 🎥💻📽

“The Marsh King's Daughter” (2023, Hulu) psychological thriller, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Karen Dionne. Young Helena lives in the Northern Michigan wilderness with her mother, Beth, and her father, Jacob Holbrook. Helena is Daisy Ridley, you know her as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films “The Force Awakens” (2015), “The Last Jedi” (2017), and “The Rise of Skywalker” (2019). I saw only one of those, I don’t know which, but I remember Ms Ridley. Ben Mendelsohn is Jacob. If you know Ben, you are not a movie hound just like yours truly. Mr Mendelsohn is good in any character suit he wears. 

       But the real performance in this little movie is Brooklynn Prince as the young Helena. She set the film’s dramatic tone and mysterious intrigue. Problem with a less than 2 hour (or 2+ hours) movie compared with a 6-episode (at least) TV series? We don’t get to navigate the in-betweens of a person's evolution from here to there. It is mostly a formulaic beginning, middle and end structure. That’s what I miss in “The Marsh King's Daughter” otherwise I’d read the novel. 🎥💻📽

“10,000 Saints” (2015, Tubi) drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Eleanor Henderson. Written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, some of the (mostly script-wise) flaws of this little movie are redeemed by the assembly of bankable performers. Ethan Hawke, Emile Hirsch, Julianne Nicholson, and Emily Mortimer + youngsters Asa Butterfield and Hailee Steinfeld.

       Story: Sixteen-year-old Jude Keffy-Horn is living in Vermont with his adoptive mother Harriet and adoptive sister Prudence. In December 1987, Jude and his best friend, Teddy, spend their time doing drugs and dreaming about moving to New York City to escape their small hometown. And so on and so forth. 

       The movie elicits interest somehow because, I bet, you can relate with the characters here. And I lived in New York in the 1990s, which wasn't so different from this movie's 1980s. Anyhow, I don’t know if I saw this movie when I was in my 20s or decades later, or now. What strikes me are predictable dialogues, mawkish cliche or overwrought sentimentalism. But a fine watch with your teenager, for sure. 🎥💻📽