A Real Pain is a beautiful film written, directed by, and starring Jesse Eisenberg. I don’t know what inspired this story, but considering what I experienced with it, it feels like a very personal movie near and dear to Eisenberg. The care he takes in developing the characters and how he manages to get his audience to feel what they should feel during this journey shows the filmmaker has excellent skills and how to express himself completely and in remarkable ways.
Jesse stars as David Kaplan, a Jewish businessman, husband, and father, who decides to take his dearly beloved cousin, Benji (Kieran Culkin), on a pilgrimage vacation to Poland, where their grandmother was born and raised and experienced the atrocities of the Holocaust. While David seems to have his life together, Benji, on the other hand, has his personal struggles. Though he is mostly an extrovert, unfiltered, and likable, Benji always takes things very emotionally and wishes to experience these feelings to their fullest potential. This approach to life has obviously taken a toll on him, and the fact that both he and David are so different comes to a head during what eventually becomes an emotional journey for the both of them.
I would love to elaborate, but this film is best experienced without further revelations. I was so impressed with both the writing and direction by Jesse Eisenberg. This movie accomplishes both revealing a poignant and powerful relationship between two close family members but also gives the audience a taste of the horrible history of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Eisenberg and Culkin are amazing together, but Kieran is the standout from this film. The actor gives an outstanding performance as a young man who doesn’t exactly know where to go with his life but is nevertheless content with experiencing all that life has to offer. Culkin brings a reckless abandon to the character, making him all the more endearing but also cringe-worthy.
If anyone has one of those family members who is often awkward or completely unfiltered, you know exactly what Benji is like. You know and love him, but sometimes, you need some distance from him. At the same time, you don’t want to completely lose touch with one another. This experience is what Eisenberg is trying to express with his remarkable indie movie. It is a wonderful film that deserves to be experienced by many people.