Review of "A Real Pain" - Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin in a poignant comedy about friendship.

Over the course of almost twenty years in the acting industry, Jesse Eisenberg has carved out a unique persona that can be recognized in the characters he portrays and the films he appears in. His roles often showcase a verbose, clever, and nervous demeanor. He has a knack for delivering dry, cutting humor, as seen in The Social Network, or a quick-witted stream of anxieties, as seen in his most recent film Fleishman Is in Trouble. He is a natural fit for a specific type of low-stakes, character-driven independent dramedy, as evidenced by his directorial debut last year, When You Finish Saving the World, which follows a dysfunctional family of three and their humorous yet cringe-worthy journey through social awkwardness. As the New Yorker aptly stated, this film is “very Jesse Eisenberg.”

His second film, A Real Pain, starring Jesse Eisenberg, showcases more of his signature style. Eisenberg’s character is talkative and uptight, but also has a softer side. Emma Stone and her husband, SNL writer Dave McCary, produced the film. It follows David Kaplan, a New Yorker who sells digital ads, as he anxiously makes phone calls to his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin), a charming slacker, in preparation for a trip to Poland to honor their grandmother’s final wishes and confront their own feelings of guilt towards the weight of historical trauma. Their grandmother Dory was a survivor of the Holocaust and found a new life in Poland.

The book A Real Pain delves into the philosophical aspect of how to put into perspective, measure, or experience the universal and frustrating feeling of human pain. It explores how one can compare their personal struggles to great tragedies like the Holocaust, as well as how to handle a history of suffering and survival. Additionally, it showcases a fusion of different performance styles: Culkin and Eisenberg both embody their typical character traits. These actors are known for portraying characters who appear uncomfortable in their own skin, but with varying intensities – Eisenberg is distant, chilly, and sharp while Culkin is passionate, twitchy, and chaotic. Similar to Culkin’s character on Succession, Benji is impulsive and immature, but he actually cares about others and has better views on class (“money is like a drug for uninteresting people”, he exclaims, nearly causing David to have an aneurysm).

Benji is clearly experiencing emotional distress, with a vague background of not doing much for many years until recent upheaval. (He was closer to their grandmother, who was a “bygone realist” that I wish I knew more about.) Despite Culkin’s scene-stealing and high-energy performance, he ultimately comes across as a stereotypical character in a movie, more of a foil to Peter Pan than a grown adult. He can be tiresome at times, but easily wins over the other tourists in the Kaplan group in Poland, all of whom have personal connections to Judaism or trauma. Marcia, a tough divorcee from Los Angeles (played by Jennifer Grey), also has grandparents who escaped the Holocaust, while the older couple Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Diane (Liza Sadovy) have ancestors from Polish Judaism. Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan) survived the Rwandan genocide and converted to Judaism in Canada. Will Sharpe showcases his sharp comedic timing and gets the biggest laugh in this lighthearted film, while also bringing a sense of vulnerability to James, the Oxford-educated non-Jewish tour guide who is just trying his best at an unfamiliar job.

This movie was shot in Poland, with scenes filmed at the Majdanek concentration camp. A Real Pain effectively captures the essence of the country, with director Eisenberg and cinematographer Michal Dymek showcasing Warsaw, Lublin, and the Polish countryside in a natural and captivating way, without always romanticizing it. The characters’ return to this haunting and sacred location also reveals the presence of graffiti, Communist architecture, plain hotel rooms, and trains.

However, the impressive urban landscapes and Eisenberg’s astute ability to capture emotional confinement take a backseat to the fast-paced nature of the film. David must break free from his own thoughts while Benji yearns for a truly authentic experience. This leads to symbolic moments, deep discussions, and revealing character responses that are often juxtaposed with something quirky, anticlimactic, or humbling, only to be repeated again. A Real Pain offers occasional insights into the concept of suffering, sprinkled with humor and charm, but also carries a hint of pretentiousness and dryness. In short, it falls into a familiar category.