Films for Breakfast

Families are hard. Jesse Eisenberg seemingly knows this pretty well and has tackled it from two different angles so far in his short directorial career. His first feature, When You Finish Saving the World, a film met with mixed critical response about a mother and her teenage son seeking connection in every place they can find rather than embracing each other. While that film was imperfect, I really admired how true the sentiment rang of our constant strives to be accepted and loved yet can often reject those who already do. A Real Pain is no doubt an even more impressive sophomore feature, as he tackles another side of the familial coin – a hyper-specific story between cousins that were raised so close together that they are basically siblings. I can already relate.

A Real Pain follows David (Jesse Eisenberg, pulling double duty in-front of and behind the camera) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) who reunite for a cross-country tour through Poland to honor their beloved, late grandmother. It doesn’t take long for the pair’s old tensions to resurface within the backdrop of their family ancestry. It’s within this journey and conflict that Eisenberg truly shines as both a filmmaker and writer, the film feels both appropriately intimate and personal yet grand in its ideas and feelings. Simply put, this is a staggering and deeply moving achievement from Jesse Eisenberg across the board.

For any kind of a road movie, especially one involving family, it’s imperative that both the performances work and the chemistry between them is believable enough that you can believe the shared family history. In the case of Kieran Culkin and Jessie Eisenberg, the two share tremendous chemistry together that is both immensely entertaining to watch within the lighter moments and absolutely heart-wrenching within its realism during the more dramatic moments. Individually, they both deliver truly fantastic performances – it truly astounds me that Eisenberg can give a performance this solid while also tackling directorial and writing duties, but he truly comes to play as the perfect foil for Culkin’s Benji.

Kieran Culkin has been making waves recently in the aftermath of his all-time performance on HBO’s Succession – a performance and sprawling throughout four seasons that it feels nearly impossible to ever top. I’m not here to power-rank his performances, but Culkin truly delivers the goods here and proves that he can break the confines of Roman Roy. In A Real Pain, he is such an enigmatic, firecracker of a character that is truly unpredictable within each situation we find him in. From beginning to end, it never feels like you can truly pinpoint exactly what he is feeling nor what he will do next. He paints such a devastatingly realistic portrait of a lost man impacted by grief and lost time, and exhibits it brilliantly throughout. I wouldn’t be upset if he took away an Oscar for this performance.

The journey that Eisenberg paves out for these two characters reliably delivers for both an entertaining film and a perfect avenue for exploring themes of grief, time, and family. Each set piece within Poland feels unique from the last, yet the drama organically heightens and weaves throughout the entire trip. Something I really admire about Eisenberg’s style is that he is neither beholden to delivering something entirely schmaltzy and knows how to restrain himself and his drama, yet also isn’t allergic to sincerity and big-heartedness. He finds a perfect balance that simply feels true to life.

One could argue that A Real Pain may feel a bit slight by the time its over, but having seen it at Sundance way back in January this year, I can say it has only grown on me over time and aged like fine wine. Yes, the film is small in scope and hones in on an incredibly specific relationship and familial dynamic, but it expertly and confidently engages with these ideas and themes in a highly satisfactory way. By the time it was over, I found myself incredibly moved by the these two performances and the story and themes Eisenberg is exploring. This is one hell of a follow-up that solidifies Eisenberg as a promising voice in cinema and Kieran Culkin as one of our very best performers currently working.

4/5