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“A Real Pain” & “Emilia Pérez”

From left: Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain (2024); Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez (2024).
From left: Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain (2024); Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez (2024).

We here at Movies 101 central try always to find themes that bind the films we review. Sometimes, though, our attempts are thwarted—and that’s the case for this week’s show, in which Dan Webster, Nathan Weinbender, and Mary Pat Treuthart discuss two films that are fully independent of one another. Said films are the psychologically complex buddy study A Real Pain and the musical crime saga Emilia Pérez.

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  • In “A Real Pain,” two estranged Jewish cousins take a historical tour of the Polish countryside. Written and directed by its star Jesse Eisenberg, and with a stormy performance by Kieran Culkin, Nathan Weinbender says this is a film as verbose and quick-witted as its actors.