A Real Pain (15) |Close-Up Film Review
Dir: Jesse Eisenberg, Poland/US, 2024, 90 mins, in English and Polish with subtitles
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Keir Culkin
Review by .Carol Allen
The film is a totally delightful, funny and moving tale of two Jewish cousins from New York on a sort of pilgrimage to Poland to visit the scenes of their ancestors’ persecution, most particularly that of their beloved grandmother, who was forced from her village home as a young woman in order to escape from the Holocaust. Eisenberg is the conventional and uptight David and he has generously given the plum role of David’s laid back and free spirited cousin Benji to Keir Culkin, who plays it to the hilt.
And Benji can indeed be a real pain, but there is a dual meaning to that title in that the serious purpose of their journey and David’s care and concern for his mercurial cousin’s welfare are rooted in real pain too.
Organised Holocaust tours to Europe it appears are a thriving business. The cousins join one such led by a serious and well intentioned young Brit called James, beautifully played by Will Sharpe. Benji manages to insult, exasperate but also charm all the members of the group, but as the tour proceeds, we start to see more of the pain beneath the surface of this complicated young man. It’s a charismatic tour de force of a performance by Culkin, who sometimes bears a remarkable resemblance to the young Michael Douglas.
And when the duo finally get to the real climax of their journey – the murder camps and then the village when Granny grew up and no-one really remembers her, the film develops a big emotional kick.
It’s pretty much a perfect little movie.
