A Real Pain – Film Review
Reviewed by Damien Straker on the 23rd of December 2024
Searchlight Pictures by Jesse Eisenberg
Written by Jesse Eisenberg
Produced by Ewa Puszczyńska, Jennifer Semler, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Ali Herting, and Dave McCary
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes
Cinematography Michał Dymek
Edited by Robert Nassau
Rating: MA15+
Running Time: 90 minutes
Release Date: the 26th of December 2024
Kieran Culkin (Succession) deserves appraisal for his energetic performance in the brisk character study A Real Pain. His magnetic presence and comic timing are critical to this low-key, funny film’s observations. One must also praise Jesse Eisenberg, the film’s lead, writer, and director for developing a small character-based story as his sophomore directorial effort. He previously directed When You Finish Saving the World (2022). His latest recalls the type of modest comedy-drama Hollywood used to make as recently as the early 2000s. It was also wise that Eisenberg let another actor capture the spotlight. Retreating is why Pain, produced by Eisenberg and Emma Stone, possesses interesting character dynamics. It examines how grief and generational loss affects families differently. It is also a study of isolation and raises fascinating questions about social decorum and communication. As such, Pain is easy to recommend not just for being a funny road movie but for being a layered character study that is surprisingly subtle.
The film opens with a chaotic sequence involving a race to the airport. David (Eisenberg), who develops website advertisements, scrambles to reach his flight on time. He hurriedly leaves phone messages for his cousin, Benji (Kieran Culkin). The two of them are travelling to Poland for a Holocaust memorial tour. They meet with a small group, and David and Benji’s differences soon become apparent to everyone, including the British tour guide (Will Sharpe) and a man who escaped Apartheid. David is cautious and reserved. This successful family man is stunned when Benji brings marijuana through the airport with him. Benji quips that they won’t arrest two Jews travelling to Poland. The moment summarises Benji’s erratic, carefree, but affable personality. He regularly interrupts the tour with abrasive statements about politics and history. As difficult and problematic as Benji is, his ability to connect with people positively and negatively is indisputable. Comparatively, David’s remoteness leaves him sensible but also muted and alone.
Outside his verbose typecasting, Jesse Eisenberg displays the makings of a rock-solid director. One can only imagine how challenging it would have been pitching the film as a reverent Holocaust story and a humorous buddy film too. Nonetheless, his control over the story’s tonal shifts is natural and seamless. Benji’s dialogue is frequently abrasive. On the tour he rants about capitalism, class, and his relationship with his late grandmother. The banter is appropriately awkward and hilarious. As expected, there is also a sombre mood befitting of the dark historical subject matter. The feeling is most apparent in an unnerving sequence where the group tours the Majdanek concentration camp. The silence throughout this episode reflects Eisenberg’s directorial control and restraint. There are no unnecessary quips. There is only the subdued recognition from all the characters of past horrors. This balance emerges from the film’s dark subtext. It becomes not just a Holocaust story but a study of modern loneliness. Eisenberg often films the characters walking towards the camera in a group with himself lingering at the back. The visual choice highlights himself as a solitary figure who envies his cousin’s affability. In these handsomely photographed Polish locations, the film obtains a vintage aesthetic. The décor reflects how the past is imperative to the characters’ DNA and their conflicting attitudes.
As mentioned, the performances of the two men are superbly defined and contrasted. Kieran Culkin devours every scene with his incredible comic timing, outspokenness, and charisma. He makes Benji disruptive and crass but also incredibly funny. He also reveals how darkly fragile this fellow is. There is a bizarre, unexpected episode where he intensifies and then rejects the idea of everyone sitting in the upper-class carriage of a train. It is as though survivors’ guilt has permeated through the generations and accounts for why he is critical of money and David’s line of work. This is obviously someone who is incredibly smart and conscious of important worldviews but lacks the deft social graces for appropriately expressing them. There is a deeper, understated idea running through this film: if not now when exactly is the right time to be outspoken, aware, and socially conscious? Its an appropriate, timely question given how divisive modern politics is right now. From the opening scene with David’s voice messages, this film is as much about communication as it is about the Holocaust. The script’s moral dilemma is quietly reinforced through Jesse Eisenberg’s subtle, challenging task of being Culkin’s strait-laced foil. He excels at playing the sensible, boring guy that is polite but also unnoticed and removed from the tour.
The interplay and personal contrasts are dramatised in a memorable scene involving a photograph. David feels it would be inappropriate to pose in front of a memorial statue. Instead, he photographs Benji pretending to be a soldier. Everyone else in the group soon joins Benji and one by one they each pretend to be a combatant. It leaves David alone and left holding everyone’s phones while they have fun. This is essentially the film’s thesis: isn’t it better to live your life unashamedly and leave some mark on the world than to be polite and invisible? In another scene, Benji blasts the tour guide for talking too much about statistics and trivialising the tour. Its awkward for everyone but later the guide thanks Benji sincerely for challenging how he conducts the tour. A very faint, nonchalant goodbye to David shows how sometimes it pays to be outspoken. Both actors are fascinating in showing the contradictions of these two men who at different times in their lives are affable and then suddenly alone again.
There are many impressive elements of this little gem to recommend to people. It is often a hilarious, insightful road movie and continuously buoyed by two excellent, contrasting performances. It is also a very engaging study of how contradicting people are when living outside their comfort zones. Humour is drawn from how dysfunctional and impressive Kieran Culkin’s performance is. It is also a review of how Jesse Eisenberg’s character fails to connect with people he doesn’t know despite his own personal successes. The dilemma about being reserved and outspoken is fascinating and well-constructed. Meanwhile, the way the film continually navigates its tonal shifts, from the dry, quippy humour to the terribly dark and sometimes moving undercurrent, is to be applauded. It would be good to see more films of this scale and observations being made by Hollywood again. One hopes then that if it receives various accolades for the writing and performances then it can also find a relatively solid audience too.
Summary: A Real Pain is a hilarious, insightful road movie that is buoyed by two excellent, contrasting performances.
4.5
Excellent
About the Author
Damien Straker is a freelance writer and film critic. He studied at the University of Sydney and graduated with an Arts Honours degree in Film Studies. He is a pop culture aficionado and enjoys talking about all films, 90s TV shows, ninjas and watching Rugby League. His favourite film directors are Alfonso Cuarón, Clint Eastwood and Alexander Payne.
Related Posts
Mufasa: The Lion King (2024) Review →
Looney Tunes Blast Off to the Big Screen with ‘The Day the Earth Blew Up’ →
Gladiator II – Film Review →
