Wri/Dir: Jesse Eisenberg | US Comedy 90′
Jesse Eisenberg) and Kieran Culkin are the ultimate odd couple in this autobiographical buddy comedy road movie .
Benji and David are cousins meeting again after years apart. They were once close buddies and have decided to join a tour group and go in search of their beloved grandmother’s former home in Poland. David, in particular, wants to get to grips with his family history and explore how his own emotional issues rank compared to those who suffered during holocaust.
But tensions soon surface as the two revisit their childhood in this hilarious and insightful and self-assured second feature, written by Eisenberg who deftly combines comedy and pathos and directs a solid cast featuring Will Sharpe and Jennifer Grey .
Benji (Culkin) is brash and emotionally open but totally lacking in self-awareness while his banner ad-salesman cousin is a thoughtful and sensitive, missing his wife and little daughter and confessing to a touch of homesickness. It’s a dynamic that offers both humour and awkwardness. We tend to root for David as the most respectful of the two, although Benji’s blind-sightedness provides cringeworthy elements yet points to a deep sadness in his life as a kid who never seems to grow up, but would never admit to it. He’s an unstable character who thrives in momentary relationships but manages to hit off with Jennifer Grey’s divorced mothe.
Clearly this group trip is fraught with memories of a tragic past treading on delicate ground involving visits to concentration camps and ghettos. Although A Real Pain is a film that explores our collective past as a universal family. All this cries out for decorum and sensitivity that the blundering Benji seems to lack in spades, although the men clearly love each other deeply, and this comes out particularly for David. Will Sharpe, as the group leader, tries desperately to iron over the interpersonal cracks with platitudes in this cleverly calibrated threesome.
At one points Benji rails at the seemingly hypocritical fact of them all travelling First Class in a train that, back in the grim past, could have carried their ancestors to their terrible graves. But he also suggests that his fellow trippers leave a commemorative stone on appropriate gravestones, in line with tradition. This idea does not go down well with the new owner of their grandmother’s former home who considers it a possible tripping hazard for the old woman who now lives there.
Eisenberg really fleshes out the rest of the tour group here, including a Rwandan refugee (Kurt Egyiawan) who has converted to Judaism and a recent divorcee (Grey) who bonds with Benji’s offbeat take on life, although the final scene is a telling reflection on his state of limbo “Anyone could be a friend”. @MeredithTaylor
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL WALDO SALT SCREENWRITING AWARD | SCREENING DURING VIENNALE FILM FESTIVAL 2024