A Real Pain’s title serves as a double meaning. On a more obvious note, it is a journey of grief and the complex emotions that come with that. At times the characters feel like they have returned to normality for lack of a better term, only for a moment of deep, anguishing pain taking them back to an eternal grief state. On the other hand, it is a film about reuniting with distant relatives who you love, yet also are so different and cause another form of annoying pain. These are the two narrative strands of Jesse Eisenberg’s second directorial feature.
Eisenberg takes a road trip-esque journey between two cousins who have slowly grown apart. The two cousins are played by Kieran Culkin and Eisenberg himself. Jesse Eisenberg is David, the organiser. The film opens with him ringing the number of Culkin’s Benji, reminding him of when to leave and giving status updates on the traffic in a scene that drags on with each iteration funnier than the last. Culkin plays the wildcard figure full of energy and surprises, difficult to control he is like an irritating child escaping your grasp. Their journey - a pilgrimage to Poland and their Grandmother’s home and to understand their Jewish heritage a bit more as a way of remembering her a few months after she has passed.
The film is a journey of unearthing this grief and coming to terms with their grandmother’s past. Heading to Poland, the cousins take a tour of its war-torn history starting in Warsaw in what can be described at times as an advert to the European country, with the Polish Film Institute being part financier of it. The film starts off as a light-hearted reunion between the two cousins who are on different ends of the personality spectrum, yet have a brotherly bond. Eisenberg is able to show his keen eye for comedic tension, perhaps not shown as much in his acting career, particularly in one scene involving cannabis transportation. However, soon it becomes something more serious and traumatising, as they come to terms with their Jewish heritage and their personal day-to-day struggles in what is a well-balanced mixture of comedy and tragedy.
Keiran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg both feel like they were made for the roles, falling into the schtick they have become known for slightly, bringing nothing to the role that they haven’t done before, but nevertheless, these are accomplished performances.
Kieran Culkin’s Benji is a super high-energy, bouncy individual. In a raw and naturalistic performance, Culkin is like Roman Roy without the financial wealth and narcissistic personality, he is overly confident and charming his friendly persona quickly radiates joy into the people around him, evident in the tour group of seven people who quickly grow to love him. An open book, he speaks his mind to a fault creating a comedic effect in tragic moments as it soon becomes clear that not everything is perfect in buoyant Benji’s life, as his blunt candour means you both love, but at other times to put it bluntly, he’s a real pain. An emotional character whose hyper energy sometimes becomes overbearing and frustrating, he is a person who acts as if he has had one too many Red Bulls on a daily basis. Yet this persona is one of trouble and struggling to deal with accepting the loss of his grandmother, his best friend, as he comes to terms with this aching pain.
Meanwhile the less flashy performance of Jesse Eisenberg, with his characteristically quick speech, frenetic, fidgety and uptight. Like his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg without the nasty ambition. David is realistic and grounded, satisfied with his life as a digital advertiser, which Benji describes as ruining everyone’s fun. Indeed, this is his role on the tour, babysitter for Benji, in one scene he has everyone’s stuff hurled at him as the rest of the group enjoy a moment of imitation. His job suits David perfectly, realistic and highlighting the benefits of something that could be seen as a negative, as he notes advertising is how we are able to access so much stuff for free, a realist trying to control Benji’s hyper tendencies in a magnetic dynamic of synergy that sells the narrative through their close bond as cousins.
The film is easy to watch but has an emotional bite. Much of the film takes place on a tour of the Jewish heritage of Poland with some dark material but Eisenberg’s direction keeps it mostly light-hearted, fleshing out the other four attendees looking to delve deeper into their religious background and a British tour guide who is fascinated with the Jewish struggle in the Second World War despite not being Jewish himself, he is an encyclopaedia of knowledge with a quintessentially nervous British persona. There are both moments of fun, such as a moment at a statue where Benji and co join in with the action, and more sombre moments, such as a moment on a train where the characters come to terms with who they are compared to their ancestors and question whether they are actually able to imagine what their struggle was like. Benji questions these moments in profuse, honest, blunt outbursts that question what is the correct way to connect to the central trauma.
Eisenberg straddles a tricky tone between comedy and tragedy. The film could easily be quite dark due to its subject matter but it injects enough comedy whilst maintaining a serious subject matter. There are moments of joy and laughter but also long drawn-out silences as the tour aims to recreate imagery from the war. In many ways it is a history lesson, delving into the underseen aspects of Poland.
Whilst this is an engaging and fascinating piece with two great performances at the centre of it, it is slightly predictable at times, heading on an expected course without many twists and turns in what is nevertheless a pleasant road trip. There is little structure or key beats that note a major turn in the narrative, instead highlighting moments of emotional bursts as the characters struggle to come to terms and know how to feel about what they witness on the tour in this breezy 90-minute piece. However, perhaps with a film that provides a personal experience of looking back to past trauma, there is little to no punch, particularly towards an ending that fizzles out.
A Real Pain is an absorbing and entrancing journey of grief. An expedition where two cousins have grown slowly apart and are bridged back together through the loss of a family member. Although there is no Oscar moment as such for Culkin or Eisenberg with a climactic outburst of grief, perhaps this is a more authentic and nuanced take. Providing a joyful, funny, painful voyage back into the past.
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