A Real Pain: LFF Film Review
Jesse Eisenberg has proven himself as a talented actor over the years, and now A Real Pain, his second directorial effort, truly establishes his skills as a writer and director too.
The comedy-drama follows mismatched cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they go on an organised trip to Poland in honour of their late grandmother. Tensions between them arise as they reckon with their Jewish family’s past during the visit.
These two couldn’t be more different. David is nerdy and introverted while Benji is loud and gregarious and wears his heart on his sleeve. David has a love/hate relationship with Benji, whom he is clearly envious of, and it is fascinating to see this dynamic evolve over the course of the film.
Benji is a complicated person. On the one hand, he befriends new people with ease and is overly friendly and jolly, but then his mood can swing the other way and he’ll become dark and emotional and call out people for doing something wrong. Culkin is brilliant here and I think his raw and complex performance deserves a supporting actor nomination.
Culkin and Eisenberg have great chemistry and bounce off each other well as these polar opposites. I was quite content watching them just talk so the Polish adventure was a bonus! Eisenberg plays his typical character but he does it so well and he gets to deliver a really satisfying monologue towards the end.
The writing is brilliant but Eisenberg is also really in command of the tone. He expertly balances the comedy and drama and the serious, solemn beats (like visiting a concentration camp) with the light-hearted hijinks, such as them missing their stop on the train. Bless Will Sharpe‘s tour guide James for putting up with them!
A Real Pain is a thoroughly entertaining film with complicated and interesting characters.
Seen at the London Film Festival. In cinemas from Friday 10th January