A Real Pain is a 2024 buddy comedy-drama film written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg. It stars perennially fast-talking actor Jesse Eisenberg (who is also the writer and the director) and Succession star – Kieran Culkin. The movie covers two cousins, David and Benji played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin respectively, who are mismatched in their personalities and taking a Holocaust tour to remember their Jewish heritage and honor their late grandmother who survived the Holocaust.
The movie focuses on the different personalities the cousins have and the fact that they have drifted far apart. David, a reserved and pragmatic father and husband, contrasts sharply with Benji, a free-spirited drifter who though charming, is quite outspoken in his outbursts. Their personalities clash as Benji criticizes David for losing his former passion and spontaneity, while David struggles with Benji’s unfiltered outbursts and lack of direction in life. The cousins travel together to Poland, to join a Holocaust memorial tour, led by James, a British tour guide who isn’t Jewish and a diverse group of Jews who have joined the tour for their own reasons.
The movie focuses on the dynamic between the two cousins and the contrast in personalities between the two. It is also a tale about the feelings of constructed normalcy amidst the brutality and suffering of human history – a feeling that is not out of place in the world we live in today with the suffering in Sudan, in the Russo-Ukrainian war or in the Hamas-Israel war. People grow attuned to a sense of numbness when subjected to images or stories of immense suffering and how we never must allow us to become dulled to the pain and suffering of others. Benji’s chaotic personality is coupled with his charm and zest for life but also seems out of place, when his cousin David speaks about Benji’s suicide attempt and asks the question that why someone who loves life so much would not care about his own?
That and more questions are covered in this lovely movie which has already got Kieran Culkin, a Golden Globe, for his superb performance as Benji. Jesse Eisenberg also produces a strong performance but his awkward style of acting, though allows us to be convinced by his portrayal of David, is no different from his acting in other movies.
JAY’S VERDICT
If you like light, heart-warming movies which give you food to think, check out A Real Pain.
