And I Cannot Say Enough About Kieran Culkin's Performance In "A Real Pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                            Who would have thought Kieran would become the most successful of all the Culkins??????????????

                             I sensed his promise, back in 2002, in "Igby Goes Down," which I just loved.

                             Now, 22 years later, Kieran has done it again.

                             He had had amazing help from writer and director Jesse Eisenberg, who fashioned the film, "A Real Pain," by himself.  The movie is guaranteed to hit audiences emotionally, but in various and different ways.

                              Though it is about two estranged cousins who journey to Poland, to see not only the house where their late grandmother had lived, it also includes them visiting the most notorious of concentration camps, Auschwitz.  However, the sequence was not shot there, but at another Polish camp called Majdanek.

                                 Yet, while incorporating the Holocaust into the story, it is not really a Holocaust story, but one of self-discovery between two individuals.

                                 Eisenberg and Culkin--the latter especially--are the center of the film, but Jennifer Grey (How did she get cast?  And what was the last thing she did?) plus the rest of the cast deliver stellar performances. And there are some gorgeous picture-perfect shots of the Polish cities and countryside.

                                   But it is Culkin's charismatic yet sharply defined performance that will haunt this moviegoer for a long time.  I tapped right into him.  Someone who has been through a lot, including familial estrangement--I know about that, darlings!!!!!!!!!!--lack of structure and placement--So characteristic of my early youth! --and masking it all with bonhomie and humor. I certainly connected with him.  But he also houses a terrible secret, and when revealed, I certainly understood him better.   Wait till you see the movie, girls, to discuss this last.

                                      I am cheering for Kieran to win at the Oscars tonight.  He has won almost every other acting award for this performance.  But if not, both he and Moncia Barbaro will be remembered for their portrayals.

                                      Hey, Kieran!  Work more!  We want to see more of you!

                                      I swore, girls, I would never sit through another performance of "Glengarry Glen Ross," but with Kieran coming to Broadway to play the coveted role of Ricky Roma, I just may have to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!