A Real Pain, 2024.
Written and Directed by Jesse Eisenberg.
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Ellora Torchia, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes.
SYNOPSIS:
Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
At one point on the Holocaust tour in Poland, Benji (a devastatingly complex Kieran Culkin) loses his cool and freaks out. To be fair, he does this multiple times in writer/director/star Jesse Eisenberg’s achingly effective but sharply funny A Real Pain (marking his return to Sundance following up his debut feature When You Finish Saving the World), portraying a somewhat contradictory individual, tormented and lost following the death of his Jewish grandmother, seemingly the only adult who was able to successfully ground him. Part of the magic trick here is that Kieran Culkin is fully raw, vulnerable, authentic, and hilarious throughout every bit of his unexpected, brash, and sometimes uncalled-for behavior.
Traveling with his close cousin from New York to Poland to reconnect and pay respects to their grandma, Jesse Eisenberg’s David is also unsure what to expect, repeatedly calling Benji on the way to the airport as if disaster is going to strike if he doesn’t check up on him often. They also share polar opposite personalities, with David being, well, the socially awkward and nervous Jesse Eisenberg moviegoers are familiar with, whereas Benji is a directionless stoner (he has also arranged for some marijuana to be delivered to him at the hotel they will be staying at in Warsaw) who needs this trip as a form of therapy. As a married father, David takes time out of his busy life to be there for his cousin and provide support.
Being present is a huge theme in A Real Pain, but considering these cousins are also taking up a Holocaust tour before ending their vacationing week by visiting their grandmother’s home (where she lived in Poland before experiencing 1,000 incidents of luck to avoid concentration camps and flee the country), it’s also about suffering and the different baggage people bring to these situations. One minute, Benji is playful and encourages the rest of the group to pose alongside some memorials of soldiers, pretending to be medics or fighting alongside the resistance. In the next scene, he could be irritable riding first class on a train expressing that such privileged treatment feels distant from the reality of what his grandmother and others lived through.
Grouped up with a non-Jewish but friendly, well-meaning tour guide named James (Will Sharpe), Benji also points out that the nonstop barrage of facts, especially when visiting a historic cemetery, also feels cold and counterproductive to the experience. This shouldn’t be about statistics, but something that can be felt. In that same vein, David and Benji must also have difficult conversations about the past and what the latter will do in the present (there’s one revealed that, while sensitively handled, also feels like something this story doesn’t even need.) However, the actors do have charming chemistry whenever they are alone and reminiscing about the good times, which is unsurprisingly dynamite when things turn serious.
A Real Pain is historically and culturally emotional as it is personally involving, with Jesse Eisenberg noticeably evolving as a filmmaker. Here, he is confident and comfortable taking brief moments with cinematographer Michał Dymek to linger on statues, murals, and architecture or anything that might deliver a vicarious feeling that we are alongside these characters on this tour. There’s a beautiful, soft scene where buildings and landmarks are rattled off, each with a shot of what exists there now. It’s enough to make one wish the film delved even deeper into the historical context and the tour itself.
Naturally, this also elicits curiosity about what they will find when the cousins inevitably visit their grandmother’s former home. Whatever it is, we hope Benji finds healing and that the struggles would then he and David’s relationship will also feel repaired (it’s that typical notion of feeling lost when a relative no longer has time to be carefree and hang out constantly since they now have a family.) Without giving it away, David certainly tries resulting in a painfully funny, cathartic sensation. A Real Pain is a multilayered look at generational trauma with poignant and hilarious complex chemistry from its leads.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at [email protected]
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