Cinema from the Spectrum

The sophomore feature film directed by actor Jesse Eisenberg is a film that comes from wrestling with personal demons where they originate. For Eisenberg, it feels like much of this is stemming from his own family history, having grown up within a secular Jewish household but also how his personal ancestry traces itself from Poland to Ukraine. But even when someone like himself visits what might be his homeland, there’s a realization you might not be as familiar with it as you might have imagined. Everyone feels like a tourist to what people around yourself are experiencing, even those whom you know – and it’s this essence which only makes A Real Pain a deeply moving one.

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin star as David and Benji Kaplan, American Jewish cousins who plan a trip to Poland in order to visit the childhood home of their late grandmother to better understand their own heritage. David is the more reserved of the two, whereas Benji shows himself to be more eccentric and outgoing. Touring through Poland via a Holocaust tour group, the two of them find that their own understandings of their own heritage also bring back memories of familial tensions, especially with the tour being led by a gentile British tour guide named James (Will Sharpe). This also brings forth greater discomfort within Benji, as he takes offense to the reduction of his own ancestry into factoids and statistics.

A Real Pain isn’t just a film all about how people find themselves deeply connected with their own history, but also how we bring others to understand our own demons from within. This all comes clear from how David reacts to the idea of joining a Holocaust tour through Poland, where he’s dealing with the embarrassment from the tensions brought on by Benji’s own emotional reactions to what he feels is becoming of his family history as a result of the tour. But it also speaks to how people ultimately find themselves connected with their ancestry, and how protective they are about those whom they love dearly in turn.

It should be no surprise that Kieran Culkin will end up stealing the show; in part because his portrayal of the eccentric Benji might also be the perfect window for understanding how people mask their own struggles. At first glance, Benji might seem more aloof and eccentric compared to Eisenberg’s David, but he’s also in a situation where people might not immediately understand what he’s going through, even though he might be sharing a space together with family. It’s a very deeply moving performance that weaves perfectly on that line between being very funny and deeply sad, but it also encompasses the essence of the film: grieving is not a unilateral process and no two people can grieve the same way.

But with creating a character much like Benji, we also are made to understand that he isn’t one who should be pitied uncritically because of his connection to his ancestry. Instead, we know how David feels on the inside, constantly putting up with his eccentricities to the point of being an annoyance. It always feels so deeply honest, especially as Benji constantly chastises a well-intentioned tour guide for what he believes to be reducing his own ancestry into nothing but factoids and statistics in order to grab the interest of his tour group. He’s never in the wrong for doing this either, but the secondhand embarrassment from putting up with it can also eat you up inside, as we’re seeing David experience first from the funny poses with wartime memorials or even Benji’s need to talk over James.

From watching A Real Pain, one can’t help but feel like there’s at least something deeply human within how Eisenberg allows so many emotions to come out on the spot. With many of the film’s heaviest emotional beats being offset by Chopin pieces (performed by Tzvi Erez), we’re also brought into the delicate states of mind that come forth with a shared grieving. But perhaps what’s most impressive about A Real Pain is the fact that it always registers with great humanity from start to finish – in this very multifaceted portrait that only runs 90 minutes. That Eisenberg ultimately says so much within little time just speaks to his own skills as a filmmaker, but it also gives A Real Pain the mark of confidence from start to finish.

Watch the trailer right here.

All images via Searchlight Pictures.

Directed by Jesse Eisenberg
Screenplay by Jesse Eisenberg
Produced by Ewa Puszczyńska, Jennifer Semler, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Ali Herting, Dave McCary
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes
Premiere Date: January 20, 2024 (Sundance)
Running Time: 90 minutes