London Film Festival 2024 – A Real Pain ★★★★

Released: 10 January 2025

Director: Jesse Eisenberg

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin

Jesse Eisenberg found a niche for himself in mid-00s indie dramas, playing oddball characters in the likes of The Squid & The Whale and Adventureland. Having shifted to directing with 2022’s When You Finish Saving the World, his latest directorial effort is A Real Pain, in which he also stars. It sees Eisenberg’s David Kaplan, a successful digital ad salesman, reunite with his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin) for a tour across Poland to honour their recently deceased grandmother. The cousins are at completely different points in their lives, with Benji struggling to come to terms with the loss of their grandmother. The tour forces them to confront not just their own grief but also dealing with the legacy of the holocaust on their grandmother and the group they are travelling with.

Culkin cast aside the shadow of his brother Macaulay with his award winning turn as Roman Roy in the smash hit series Succession. While Benji is not from money in the way Roman was. There are similarities to be found in his cynical worldview and the delivery of some of his dialogue, a broken man inside dealing with unresolved trauma. Eisenberg’s David who used to cry a lot as a child and has drifted apart from Benji, has a steady job and family with a wife and small child at home.

The pair capture the very real drifts that can happen in friendships but also between family members. There is plenty of love between them but a growing rift perhaps at times exacerbated by confronting the horrors the tour brings to light, putting their familial squabbles into context.

While Eisenberg’s directorial debut received a muted response, the reception for A Real Pain has been far kinder since its premiere at Sundance with discussion around Culkin as a potential awards prospect. He shows plenty of signs of maturity as a director here deftly balancing the sombre themes and peppering in plenty of laughs, particularly around the odd couple relationship at its core. Michał Dymek’s cinematography captures the beauty of the Polish landscapes while a Chopin-heavy score helps set the mood, bringing a sense of tranquillity that compliments Benji’s fire.

A Real Pain is a winning sophomore feature from Jesse Eisenberg that finds the right balance between comedy and moments dissecting the grief. The pair of lead performances offset each other wonderfully. It honours the Polish culture and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, proving at times heartbreaking but full of heart.