Jesse Eisenberg’s second directorial, A Real Pain, is the kind of film that sneaks up on you. At first glance, it feels like a quirky buddy comedy but before you know it you are in the deep end of an exploration of grief, trauma and identity. By the time the end credits roll, you’re not laughing anymore; you’re just sitting there, staring at the screen, trying to catch your breath.
The premise is deceptively simple. Two Jewish-American cousins, David (played by Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin), travel to Poland to honour their late grandmother, Dora, a Holocaust survivor. It’s part family obligation, part personal journey, though the two cousins couldn’t approach it more differently. David is nervy, introverted and feels awkward around people. Benji is loud, impulsive and wholly unfiltered, the kind of tourist who manages to make friends wherever he goes.
David is classic Eisenberg; twitchy, neurotic and painfully self-conscious. But Benji? He’s a walking contradiction — hilarious one moment, heartbreaking the next — and Kieran Culkin is a revelation. He delivers a final shot so quietly devastating it feels like a punch to the gut. Culkin’s performance has already earned him the 2025 Golden Globe for best supporting actor and more laurels will follow for sure.
Eisenberg’s direction is understated and confident. He knows when to lean into the humour and when to let the gravity of the story take over. The film is packed with compositions by Chopin, giving it a restless energy that mirrors David’s anxiety and contrasts with Benji’s chaotic bravado.
Eisenberg, who also wrote the film, has a way of making you laugh even as it grapples with heavy themes. Generational trauma, Holocaust tourism, the weight of memory — it’s all there, woven into the banter and the absurd situations. One moment, Benji is cracking inappropriate jokes; the next, he’s struggling with the unbearable heaviness of standing in a place where millions of lives were destroyed. There’s a scene where he lashes out at their British tour guide (a quietly funny Will Sharpe), accusing him of profiting off tragedy, and it’s both uncomfortable and comical.
A Real Pain is also about David and Benji’s relationship. It is pockmarked with old wounds and new resentments, but here are two people trying to make sense of who they are and, in the process, let brotherly love soften their rough edges.
What’s most striking, though, is how the film handles the idea of memory. Visiting Poland, retracing their grandmother’s history and standing in the shadow of the Holocaust is an overwhelming, surreal experience for both cousins but in completely different ways. David feels dwarfed by it; Benji can’t stop pushing against it, as if to protect himself from the pain. And yet, the film doesn’t dismiss the act of remembering. If anything, it shows how messy and complicated it is to carry the past with you.