Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, 30 Minutes or Less, among the other 50 plus movies he has acted in) wrote, directed and stars in the film A Real Pain, alongside Kieran Culkin (“Succession” TV series), Will Sharpe (“Flowers” TV series) and others. Eisenberg and Culkin are phenomenal working together in the film, portraying two cousins who are traveling together to Poland to visit the homeland of their grandmother who recently passed away. This drama will have the audience near tears and then smiling from the humor found in some very relatable scenes if anyone has lived with the challenges brought on by loved ones. If anyone has seen the trailer, they have seen the famous slap Culkin’s character receives and by then, people will understand why Eisenberg’s character arrived at this point.
Eisenberg shows his skill as a writer and director in his film. He has a previous feature, When You Finish Saving the World, and after A Real Pain, I have no doubt his talent will continue taking him toward success with more stories that people will be able to connect with. On IMDb, he is shown to have completed a TV series, “Bream Gives Me Hiccups.”
David Kaplan (Eisenberg) is on his way to the airport and desperately awaits a phone response from his cousin Benji Kaplan (Culkin) to confirm he is on his way to meet him. After multiple calls and arriving at the airport, he sees Benji, who makes an excuse about his lack of phone courtesy. Once close as children, these cousins (like brothers) have grown up and taken extremely different paths. David is complying with this trip to Poland in honor of their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. While David is feeling the grief, Benji is more than willing to show his feelings in a very public way, especially when they join members of the Holocaust tour of Poland.
How different are they? David is polite and quiet in front of a memorial to Polish soldiers. Not Benji – instead he decides it is a great backdrop for silly poses – and encourages the tour group to do it too. David is left being the photographer, one by one on everyone’s cell phone. Soon after, Benji’s behavior radically changes when they are on a train – torn over the fact that they are Jewish and riding a train in Poland. The pain can be felt during his performance. There is a powerful scene in the concentration camp that allows the audience to view in silence as the characters do. Excellent direction by Eisenberg.
The group tour is led by host James (Will Sharpe), and on the tour is Marcia (Jennifer Grey, Dirty Dancing, The Bling Ring), among other cast members. All are good as their respective characters.
Rating: R for language throughout and some drug use. The film is in theaters on Friday, November 15 after having screened at the Austin Film Festival in late October.
Source: Searchlight Pictures, Austin Film Festival
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