What begins as a tour through Polish Holocaust sites becomes an exploration of grief and unresolved heritage, all refracted through the lens of Jesse Eisenberg’s uniquely melancholic wit. This is not a story about healing. It’s an untidy, rueful comedy that resists tidying up—and in its rawness, it strikes a more human chord. As a writer and director, this is Eisenberg's most accomplished effort.
Eisenberg stars as David, a tense, anxious New Yorker trying to juggle family life and a stressful job. His cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin) is an eccentric force—a guy with the impulsiveness of a teenager, the weariness of a man who's seen too much, and the reckless energy of someone who fears stopping might mean finally facing himself. Culkin plays Benji with a brilliant, deeply conflicted physicality. He dominates scenes in an unsettling dance between frenetic charm and an unspoken sadness, crafting a character we both wince at and sympathize with in a way only Culkin could deliver.
The story hinges on a delicate, painful irony: David and Benji are traveling to Poland to honor their grandmother’s survival story. But it’s clear that the true wounds they’re reckoning with are not only historical—they’re here, simmering between them and within them. Their inherited pain, Eisenberg suggests, is both deeply specific and universally human. Yet, with the unique complexity of Jewish diasporic memory, it’s a pain that resists being pinned down, let alone “fixed.”
What’s refreshing is that Eisenberg’s film refuses to bow to Hollywood sentimentality. There’s no “closure” here—no pat reconciliations or quick fixes to explain away Benji’s behavior or David’s anxieties. Instead, A Real Pain revels in life’s messiness, its uncomfortable silences, and its stark truths. In doing so, Eisenberg crafts a film that feels familiar yet distinct—a memory in motion, as awkward, sad, and occasionally hilarious as life itself.
What ultimately holds the movie together is the magnetic interplay between Eisenberg’s introspective David and Culkin’s chaotic Benji. Eisenberg knows precisely when to pull back, letting Culkin's electric performance surge to the foreground. This generosity adds a layer of emotional realism that elevates A Real Pain beyond a buddy-road movie, inviting viewers into a textured exploration of loss, identity, and the strange power of family bonds.
4/5
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