Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg star as two cousins touring Poland in Eisenberg’s second film as a director. Here’s our A Real Pain review.
Jesse Eisenberg’s sophomore directorial effort combines grief with cultural identity and some piercingly funny performances. A Real Pain is somehow devastating and rib-ticklingly funny, often at the same time, which is quite an achievement.
The film follows Jewish cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) who reunite to visit their late grandmother’s homeland of Poland. What’s supposed to be a commemorative trip to honour their granny turns into a bit of a struggle of wills as the cousins clash over pretty much everything.
A Real Pain gets off to a neurotic start as we observe David leaving Benji far too many voicemails about leaving for the airport, only to find Benji already there. It’s a quick and easy way to establish two complete opposites in David and Benji, but their slightly too broadly drawn characters are helped by the dynamic chemistry between Eisenberg and Culkin.
In Poland, David and Benji join a group of tourists on a tour of former concentration camps, each of them with their own reasons to connect with these places. Despite strong performances, especially from Will Sharpe as the tour guide and Jennifer Grey as Marcia, the group adds very little to the plot and the characters are forgettable. A Real Pain is mostly a two-hander between Eisenberg and Culkin and everything else feels like extra weight.
Much like Benji is constantly stealing David’s thunder, Culkin is arguably the film’s star, emerging from each scene as the more compelling actor. It’s not that Eisenberg is bad; Benji feels like the more natural character for the audience to grasp onto. Even before David spills the beans on why Benji seems so damaged, Culkin subtly hints at the character’s personal, internal struggles.
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What makes Benji’s character even more interesting is that we can’t ever really trust him. Early on, Eisenberg implies that A Real Pain might be about grief and connection, but after Benji lies again and again, you start to doubt if we can trust him at all. Is he lying about the grief like he lies about everything else? Culkin brings the same complex emotions that fuelled his work in Succession to his performance here and it’s just as riveting as it was on the HBO series.
Eisenberg isn’t half bad either. The Social Network star plays to his strengths and gives us another portrait of a pleasingly nervous and anxious man, but it’s hard to shine next to a performance as intriguing and multi-layered as Culkin’s. The other characters aren’t particularly memorable either, but then again, A Real Pain seems only interested in Benji and his inner life and bond with David.
Just as it feels that Eisenberg is on the verge of something authentic, a breakthrough in the two characters’ mindsets, A Real Pain comes to a stop and the credits begin to roll. The ending feels too light and simple considering what we’ve learned so far. There was another level that could have been achieved, but instead, Eisenberg favours an easier way out. Eisenberg mostly repeats his usual tricks both in front and behind the camera, but Culkin’s explosive, devastating performance carries A Real Pain.
A Real Pain is in UK cinemas now.
