OSCARS 2025: A Real Pain (2024)

When an actor makes the leap from starring in movies to directing them, you never can be sure what you'll get. Sometimes, the outcome is forgettable. Other times, they prove so good at working behind the camera that it overtakes their acting careers. Ocassionally, we'll get lucky and an ego-tripping vanity project fiasco will fall into our laps. Jesse Eisenberg made his directorial debut with “When You Finish Saving the World” in 2022. The movie grabbed some good reviews without making a big splash. Eisenberg did double duty on his second feature, both directing and starring in “A Real Pain.” That might seem like a tall order but it's worked out for him, the film getting raves and picking up a number of awards this season. We don't know if Jesse will go full Eastwood in the future but he's certainly off to a strong start.

David, a neurotic Jewish man with a wife and daughter, meets his cousin Benji at the airport. While David is shy and nervous, Benji is outspoken and gregarious. The two were close in their youth but have drifted apart recently. The recent passing of their grandmother left Benji devastated, him attempting suicide. The two are reconnecting to go on a tour of Poland together through historical Jewish sites. Quickly, Benji's free-spirited ways – and tendency to challenge the tour guide – start to irritate David. Long simmering resentments and arguments start to slowly come to the surface, as the unlikely pair divert from the rest of the tour group to visit their grandmother's childhood home. 

“A Real Pain” does not exactly break new ground by being about the pressures and joys of familial bonds. However, it's a well-observed and funny take on the idea. David and Benji are two guys that have known each other their whole lives. They've seen one another at high and low points. David was an emotional youth, prone to crying episodes. He has his life under control now, properly medicated and with a healthy marriage. Benji seems to be the same youthful, exuberant person he's always been. That inevitably results in lots of awkwardness, the two personalities clashing, which is played for a lot of charming comedy. However, there's a life time of issues between the two as well. A key, powerful moment has David describing how complicated the relationship is, how frustrated and angry he gets with Benji. At the same time, there's little doubt that he loves his cousin too. “A Real Pain” does a good job of capturing the dual aspects of relationships such as these. 

In his time as a leading man, Jesse Eisenberg has certainly carved out a good niche for himself. He seems to have embraced his tendency to play either neurotic dorks, rage-filled nerds, or some combination there of. Clearly Eisenberg is fine with playing these type of characters, since he wrote another one for himself in “A Real Pain.” Meanwhile, Kiernan Culkin co-stars as Benji, the latest role of his that can be described as someone who disguises their angst with sarcasm. Proving again that there's nothing wrong with typecasting some times, both actors do fantastically in these roles. David's neuroses are always evident, Eisenberg doing a great job of showing how this guy still isn't comfortable in his own skin. Culkin, meanwhile, rambles and rants and swears impulsively, a cyclone of energy that causes mischief and makes friends everywhere he goes. Moreover, watching these two play off each other is continuously rewarding. 

While there's something to be said for letting these guys run loose on the kind of characters they are both adapt at playing, Culkin truly does create something special here. Benji isn't only a free spirit, a Manic Pixie Dream Cousin that shows up to shake up David's life and make him a little more relaxed. He's a fuck-up too, a lifetime of mistakes in his past. It's easy to see why that is, Benji showing a bipolar rhymem as he swings between high energy, incensed anger, or deep pain. It's a show-off kind of part, especially when Benji is stripping down the other members of the tour group on the privilege he perceives in them. Culkin is good at the subtle parts too, the weight in Benji's eyes at the pain he carries with him everywhere never too far from his face. Culkin makes the stories and anecdotes Benji share really come to life, the history of this character and what he shares with David feeling fleshed-out and lived-in.

Eisenberg's film is mostly concerned with smaller issues of family, of long-held anxieties and loves between two men. However, the title has a deeper meaning too. As David and Benji are led through Poland, they see sights of historical struggle, loss, and repression. They visit a monument to Jewish war heroes, a graveyard, and finally a concentration camp. That last stop moves Benji to tears, the film growing unusually quiet. Among the tour group is a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, who converted to Judaism late in life. This is another person very familiar with pain but has found a way to continue past it and live his life. The cinematography in “A Real Pain” often frames its characters in wide shots of the Polish cities and countrysides, making it feel even more like a tour in of itself. When paired with the emotional journey, that makes the movie a tour of the landscape of pain, the way history – the personal and the monumental – lingers and forges us.

Ending in practically the same spot it starts, “A Real Pain” intentionally feels a bit like a closed loop. Perhaps the idea is that David and Benji both have and haven't changed much since their younger days. When you're around family, your always kind of stuck in a childhood role like that. Eisenberg and Culkin are both fantastic in this keenly observed story of lifelong bonds and all the baggage that comes with them. There are quiet laughs here, mostly thanks to the sharply delivered and naturalistic dialogue. Watching these two hang-out, argue, and bicker is a real joy too. I'm a sucker for stories of siblings or sibling-like relationships, which is probably why this one appealed to me so much. Hey, maybe this Michael Cera wannabe is gonna go places after all. [8/10]