Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
What We Thought:
Overall I quite enjoyed A Real Pain. I wish it had a slightly different ending, but Kieran Culkin should garner some award buzz and the film should see some nominations on the independent film level. Well Hollywood independent film level.
That’s exactly what this film is, what I call a Hollywood Independent Film. It stars named actors people are familiar with and has a budget around $10 million or less. These types of films play Sundance and get bought by distributors if they don’t already have distribution secured. And you know what? I miss these types of flicks. They are story driven with lots of dialogue and no third act CGI-fest. We used to get dozens of these movies every year, but now everything is tentpole, CGI loaded blockbusters and the smaller films get no real push and only get found later on with streaming.
Why it works is because of the chemistry between its leads. It’s a classic comedy duo set up with Jesse Eisenberg as the straight guy and Culkin as the wild card. Culkin is coming off Emmy darling Succession and you still see quite a bit of Roman Roy in his performance here. As a fan of that show I am perfectly fine with that. Eisenberg (who also directed the film) is perfect for these films. He’s anxious and soft spoken and the complete opposite of his extroverted cousin.
As two cousins on a trip to Poland to see where their late grandmother lived prior to her moving to the US after the Holocaust, you need both of their dynamics to level out the heaviness of the drama. There is a scene at a concentration camp with very little dialogue that is still very timely in today’s world. There are scenes where Culkin’s bipolar-ish behavior is the tension breaker the film needs. Eisenberg’s David can bring down Culkin’s Benji, but Benji is there to remind his cousin to live life and occassionly leave the family/working man mold he’s currently enslaved to. They both have different stories of their grandmother and different responsibilities as adults and the movie very much needs both. It’s successful because of what Eisenberg and Culkin bring to their characters. To do a comedy around something like a Holocaust remembrance story, you need the level headed with the manic or it would just be a drama.
I do recommend A Real Pain and it might crack my Top 10 for the year if the rest of the year doesn’t surprise me. I won’t spoil the ending, but I do wish it was different. It could have ended on a happier note or it could have ended on a super depressing note because of its story, but it doesn’t really do either. I think audiences will be left wondering what happened because of the lack of closure. But even with its ending, the lead performances are two of the year’s best especially Culkin. If you can find it, watch it.
Written & Directed by: Jesse Eisenberg
Produced by: Dave McCary, Ali Herting p.g.a., Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg p.g.a., Jennifer Semler, Ewa Puszczynska
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes
The Nerds Templar 