Film Review: A Real Pain

Jesse Eisenberg has often beautifully portrayed assholes (The Squid and the Whale, The Double, The Social Network) so it’s lovely to see him playing against type here, as well as writing and directing the film. It’s seriously impressive.

He portrays uptight, neurotic but still empathic David Kaplan, a family man, who is thrown together with edgelord cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin) who has no clear purpose in life but plenty of unfiltered opinions on everything. Both have grown up together, but drifted apart as adults, and through suffering the recent loss of their beloved grandmother Dory, have booked a tour of Poland, with all of the horrors of the holocaust present and correct. What could…errr…possibly go wrong?

Part of the charms of this film are the nuances, humour and U -turns: Eisenberg takes a freewheeling approach, often akin to the early films of Richard Linklater. It ambles likeably along, a subtle study in social awkwardness. While everyone should call BenjI out on his “dude, fuck you and your bougie lifestyle ” tirades, he’s instead incentivised. People, inexplicably, find Benji charming. David apologises for Benji when he calls out the hypocrisy of first-class tickets on board a holocaust tour, and even tells the English tour guide James (a brilliant Will Sharpe) how best to conduct the tour.

In spite of the existential subject matter of generational trauma and narcissistic behaviour, the film isn’t a downer. There’s a cringe to be found in every corner, but Benji and David still care about each other, regardless of all of the hostility. There are many people like these two, suffering through bad choices- the lucidity and honesty are raw but completely recognisable here. The Chopin soundtrack is wonderful too. What a beautiful, poignant and often extremely funny film.