In his second outing as a director, Jesse Eisenberg has taken a personal experience and turned it into a smart, funny, ultimately emotionally affecting story about two mismatched Jewish American cousins who, after their beloved grandmother dies, use the money she’s left them to make a trip to Poland to see where she was born before the violence of the Nazis forced her to leave for a new life in the US. Eisenberg plays David Kaplan — uptight, anxious, neurotic and not very good with strangers. Kieran Culkin — in his strongest performance yet — plays Benji, David’s free-spirited, easy with strangers, sometimes volatile cousin for whom “Grandma Dory” meant the world.
The opening scenes of the film make the differences between the odd couple evident — Benji, sitting, watches the fascinating world of the airport while David, running late leaves a string of increasingly agitated and apologetic voice messages on his cousin’s phone as he rushes to meet him. When they do meet, the differences between them are even more evident but it’s also clear that, if one believes Benji, they were once joined at the hip and it’s only the inevitable demands and adventures of adult life that have seen them drift apart over the years. David has a wife and child and a job selling advertising to websites, Benji has tie-dye shirts, a backpack and brick of weed he’s bringing to Poland.
On arrival they’re introduced to the other members of their “tragedy tour” group — quietly patient and over-informative guide James (Will Sharpe), retiree couple Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Diane (Liza Sadovy), recently divorced Marcia (Jennifer Grey) and Rwandan genocide survivor and convert to Judaism Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), who've all come to Poland looking to find out what it’s historical connection to their own lives may provide in the way of answers to long-nagging questions. It soon becomes clear that this reserved, mostly polite small group will be no match for the childlike curiosity and uninhibited free spirit of Benji, who becomes the charming if volatile centre of both the trip and the story as they move through the increasingly unavoidable links between Chopin-soundtracked, quaint and pleasant present Poland and the tragic, violent, shameful realities of Poland’s Jewish past.
As they head towards an emotionally traumatic visit to the real-life death camp of Majdanek — which Eisenberg convinced the curators of the site to allow him to actually shoot in — we learn that Benji is not only an engaging, overbearing American who's accepted as a lovable rogue, though sometimes he can be a bit of “a real pain,” but he's also a Peter Pan figure whose failure to grow up is the result of real psychological pain. Benji is constantly reminding David of their past closeness and David, often exhausted by his cousin's refusal to discuss his emotional trauma, is both remorseful about the space that’s grown between them and also relieved that they're no longer as co-dependent as they once were.
There is by the end of this small dysfunctional-relationship road trip dramedy much to laugh at, much to contemplate and much to appreciate about the subtle connections Eisenberg’s ably written script teases out about the ways that violent trauma spreads its web across the generations.
Though he’s not Jewish but Irish-Catholic, a consideration that made Eisenberg initially uncertain about his casting in the role, Culkin as Benji provides the emotional centre that holds the film together and draws the audience completely along for the ride. By its end A Real Pain is firmly Kieran Culkin’s film. It is, like much of the actor’s previous work, including his Emmy-winning turn as Roman Roy in Succession, a role that relies not on transformation so much as it does on teasing out aspects of Culkin’s own character to imagined extension. In his energetic and quietly complex portrayal of Benji, Culkin has created a slightly exaggerated version of himself that shines with charm, intelligence and depth. It has already won him a Golden Globe and is almost certain to earn him an Oscar nomination.
Well-written, well-acted and directed with impact, A Real Pain is a small film that asks some big questions and offers excellent dark jokes that you can’t help but laugh out loud at, even if, by its end, you may find yourself shedding a tear, whether you watch it on a big or small screen.
- A Real Pain is on circuit.
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