Wri/Dir: Jesse Eisenberg | US Comedy 90′
Jesse Eisenberg) and Kieran Culkin are the ultimate odd couple in this holocaust themed comedy where they play cousins meeting again after years apart.
Benji and David were once close buddies and have decided to go in search of their beloved grandmother’s former home and get to grips with their family history during a group tour of Poland. But tensions soon surface as the two revisit their childhood in this hilarious and insightful comedy drama written by Eisenberg, who also directs this, his self-assured second feature, with a solid cast featuring Will Sharpe.
Benji is brash and totally lacking self-awareness while his banner ad-salesman cousin is a thoughtful individual 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 lack of aplomb 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.
Clearly this group trip is fraught with memories of a tragic past treading on delicate ground involving visits to concentration camps and ghettos. 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 who has converted to Judaism and a recent divorcee from New York who manages to bond with Benji’s offbeat take on life. @MeredithTaylor
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