Though there’s the sense that, initially, the characterisation of Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) in A Real Pain is to purely lean into the personality-driven descriptiveness of such a title, writer/director Jesse Eisenberg has other plans in helping us as an audience empathise with his plight. Benji hones the type of energy that can be described in varying forms of “life of the party” to “truth-bearing asshole”, and, indeed, over the course of A Real Pain‘s 90 minutes, he tests our patience just as much as he breaks our hearts.
From the first moment we meet Benji we sense that there’s much haunting his mind. Culkin – who has been rightfully winning many of the major Supporing Actor precursors in the award season leading up to the Academy Awards – harnesses a stare that you feel couldn’t, nor shouldn’t, be broken. But it’s in his immediate switch to excitable puppy energy that masks a deeper pain (there’s that double meaning title at work), something that will come to light over the course of his road trip with cousin David (Eisenberg). The duo, who we learn were almost inseparable growing up, are visiting Poland on a Holocaust tour to honour the memory of their late grandmother, a figure that Benji specifically had a close relationship with.
The Holocaust tour is an interesting way to frame much of A Real Pain‘s narrative push too, and, due to Eisenberg’s own Jewish background and Polish ancestry, it’s all handled with masterful respect and intelligence, even if the mismatched cousin characters and the eclectic tour group could make way for outlandish humour. Speaking of said tour group, Eisenberg’s script extends emotional and comedic courtesy to its variety of side players, who are all, similarly, battling their own demons. Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan) has moved to Canada and converted to Judaism off the back of his survival of genocide in Africa; Mark and Diane (Daniel Oreskes and Liza Sadovy, respectively) are looking to reset their identity, having feared they are losing their roots; as is Marcia (Jennifer Grey), though she seems to be doing so in a less touristy fashion than the aforementioned couple.
Overseeing this visitation through generational trauma is tour guide James (Will Sharpe), who is perhaps the film’s most unsung hero as he deals with the emotional highs and lows of his group; though it’s namely Benji’s volatile personality that sparks such differing heights of psychology. James has to fill the awkward silences that often follow Benji’s unexpected outbursts (you’d be forgiven for feeling incredibly uncomfortable throughout much of the film), but in doing so, his role as a guide and the almost robotic form he takes in detailing each stop along the way is challenged in a manner he ultimately finds rewarding; only the oddly charismatic Benji could put James on blast for not entirely understanding what certain areas across the tour mean to everyone and emerge as a savior, with James thanking Benji for altering his perspective on how he should lead the tours going forward.
All roads ultimately lead back to Benji across A Real Pain, and Culkin’s performance is nothing short of superb. He makes us laugh and cry in equal measure, and as much as we retreat inside ourselves when witnessing his inappropriate outbursts (at least from a social setting standpoint), we entirely understand his pain and that it’s his inability to be alone that drives his hurt. If he’s always on the move, making winning jokes or seeking to attach himself to whichever person in his vicinity, he’s unable to be alone with his thoughts, which is where he knows his torment will settle should he stop in any capacity.
Culkin’s performance undeniably brings life to Benji, but A Real Pain is a real triumph for Eisenberg. Allowing himself the less showy role, David is so often the audience’s entry point to Benji from a reactive view. We feel David’s pain, anguish, frustration and admiration at once as he watches Benji navigate their trip. We fall in love with him as much as we wish to distance ourselves, and Eisenberg’s script so perfectly captures that dichotomy; a dinner scene during the film’s halfway point perhaps best encapsulates their relationship, with Eisenberg earning a powerfully quiet moment as a man that could so easily give up, but senses the pain of letting Benji go greatly outweighs the resentment he lives in currently.
Whilst A Real Pain is likely to resonate more with audiences of certain heritages and religious beliefs, Eisenberg’s story is still universal in how it looks at trauma, mental health, and the complexities of familial relationships. Oh, and it’s funny. Like, really, really uncomfortably, yet organically funny.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
A Real Pain is screening in Australian theatres from Boxing Day, December 26th, 2024.
