Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who also stars in the movie alongside Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (now in theatres) is an exceptional use of comedy in an intimate and heartfelt exploration of a relationship between two estranged cousins. With the addition of Emma Stone as a producer on the film, the on-screen dynamic between Eisenberg and Culkin is a character study that’s infectious to watch.
During a virtual press conference ahead of the film’s release, Culkin shared that he made a rule for himself after Succession to not be away from his family for more than eight days. But the strength of Eisenberg’s project made him decide to break that rule.
“Just within the first conversation they have, I remember feeling like, ‘Oh, I can picture them as kids,” Culkin said during the virtual press conference. “I know where they came from and how they’ve gotten this way, which is something huge about the writing.”
“I watched Jesse’s first film and it was great. So I was like, shit. … I’m going to do it.”
Culkin also revealed that there wasn’t a great amount of rehearsal for the film, and it’s that magic of spontaneity that you can really feel coming through the screen that makes A Real Pain feel fresh and unique.
The idea for A Real Pain began 16 years ago, when Eisenberg had a particular curiosity about his family history.
“My wife and I took a trip in about 2008 to see where my family was from, to visit the little town that they lived in, and more specifically, to visit the house that they all lived in up until 1939 when the war broke out in Poland,” he explained during a virtual press conference. “I was trying to feel something profound, I was kind of struggling to.”
“I was standing there for a long time and people started looking at me, ‘Why is this person just standing outside this house?’ And it was just something I always thought about, is why didn’t I feel more of an immediate connection? And why didn’t I feel more of an immediate connection to my family history even being in a place? And this had kind of stayed with me for a long time and when I started writing this, all those feelings flooded back. Feelings of ambivalence about my family history. Feelings of confusion. … This movie was, in some ways, an exploration of me trying to understand my own modern life in relation to the trauma that my family experienced.”
When Eisenberg arrived home from Poland he wrote a play called The Revisionist about a writer who travels to Poland to stay with his cousin, and following that project A Real Pain was born.
In A Real Pain David (Eisenberg) and his cousin Benji (Culkin) reunite to travel to Poland, after the death of their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. While the pair were close as children, they drifted apart as they got older.
David has quite a stable life, living with his wife and child in Brooklyn, working in online ad sales. Benji is more of the free spirit, with an endearing personality, even though he doesn’t have a great filter when voicing his thoughts. But Benji had a close connection to their grandmother, as someone who particularly looked out for him.
Arriving in Poland David and Benji meet up with a tour group, led by a British guide James (Will Sharpe), an academic fascinated by Jewish history, who informs the group the tour is about “pain.”
Visiting a concentration camp with other travellers connecting with their own family’s Jewish history in Poland, and Benji and David eventually breaking off from the group to go to the home where their grandmother lived, A Real Pain is a journey of reconnection amid the exploration of intergenerational trauma.
A movie highlight of the year, the effortless feel of the banter between Culkin and Eisenberg in A Real Pain makes the film feel special. Both actors are at their best, leaning into the chaotic and anxious moments with equal weight as the more lighthearted beats, or the emotional stages of the story. They’re a perfect match and it feels rewarding to watch these actors together.
A film filled with witty, sarcastic, humorous and vulnerable dialogue, Eisenberg’s script beautifully paces its tonal shifts, always feeling grounded in authenticity. Particularly appreciated in that effort is the decision to not neatly tie up this story at the end. Because nothing in life is easily tied up in a bow and resolved with perfection.
With a runtime of 90 minutes, the movie never lags (a rarity these days), with every minute used to its full potential, from it’s most turbulent moments to the softest elements.
If you’ve been missing Roman Roy, A Real Pain is the ideal project for fans who loved Succession. It’s not that the characters are similar, but it’s a role with just as much complexity and meaty material for the Emmy-winning actor to sink his teeth into.
Eisenberg proves to be a particularly nuanced writer, with brilliant choices as a director. That’s especially true in his ability to explore a topic like grief, which can be particularly hard to navigate effectively in films, leaning into the complexity of those feelings in a very real way, while not compromising on the comedy.
A Real Pain is an incredibly satisfying watch and a film that shouldn’t be missed.
