REEL | Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin Tour 'A Real Pain'

"Money is like heroin for boring people."

Searchlight Pictures / Topic Studios

In his sophomore directorial effort, accomplished actor/playwright Jesse Eisenberg directs himself alongside Kieran Culkin as two once-close but mismatched Jewish cousins on a bonding trip to their ancestral homeland to reconnect after their Polish grandmother (a WWII survivor) passes away. A Real Pain channels the road trip template to explore the interpersonal effects of generational suffering.

Full of darkly comic humour about processing atrocities, genocide, and the Holocaust, a shifty Eisenberg and relentlessness Culkin as David and Benji (described as "basically brothers") create a believable familial antagonism with the latter channelling a true sense of manic grief that's captivating in its genuine discomfort. They form a fine bond on screen that certainly resembles that of distant cousins struggling to coexist together as adults with their own anxieties and tendencies long held.

A Real Pain resists any lessons or lectures about feeling the sadness and pain of the past. Its tumultuous buddy tragicomedy digs at the soul for a deeply affecting emotional journey. As a historical travelogue of grief, there's a modest but meaningful depth to its cringe-inducing humour in the backdrop of concentration camps and other sites. It breathes and leaves room for reflection on all the collective pain we have and continue to experience every day in the world.


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