Last year at Sundance, Jesse Eisenberg gave us his directorial debut, When You Finish Saving the World. It was an ambitious, albeit flawed, exploration of some of the problems facing today’s youth and the generational gaps that amplify them. The film felt like a cry for help from someone who had a deep concern for our future as a society, but ultimately, the film didn’t feel as personal of a story as something like that could have. Luckily, with his sophomore effort, A Real Pain, Eisenberg decided to craft something far more personal and authentic. By drawing on his own familial history, Eisenberg delivers an incredibly moving dissection of both the modern Jewish person and our relationship to our Eastern European roots. The final product is an extremely well-crafted story of two cousins who reunite on a tour through Poland, while exploring the history of the Jewish community and the Holocaust.
I know what you’re thinking. This doesn’t sound like a comedy, but trust me, it’s one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Even so, that doesn’t mean it’s not also full of emotionally heavy moments, as it confronts one of the biggest atrocities in human history and the multitude of understandable reactions people have when visiting a place like this.
Similarly to the film, a trip like this is an emotional balancing act. At one moment, you’re staring into the abyss of human evil at the Majdanek Concentration Camp, and are forced to reckon with something so massively terrible, it must be seen to be believed. The next moment you’re experiencing the beautiful and vibrant cities of Poland. It can be a demanding shift in tone, but it is a necessary one. One of the only ways to understand what was taken from us is to see the rich and vibrant life that existed before the Nazis rose to power, and what still stands today and how it has grown and evolved in spite of its horrific past. By traveling through the different historical areas of Poland, one can see the evolution and the eventual destruction of the communities there.
The trip in A Real Pain is very similar to a trip I took when I was in high school. We visited many of the exact locations shown in the film, and while watching, I was constantly impressed with how effectively the script was able to communicate both the emotions and goals of a trip like this. In the wrong hands, this could be a story of emotionally manipulative grief, or merely a cold retelling of history, but it’s clear that Eisenberg did his research, and delivered a perfectly nuanced recreation of this experience. This extends beyond how it’s shown, but also in how its characters react to what they’re seeing.
This is very much a film about how we as humans react and process our shared histories, and Eisenberg is able to capture the often volatile and unpredictable feelings of these characters in a way that felt so true to my own trip. There’s really no experience in the world that can compare to visiting a concentration camp — an enormous monument to loss that most Jewish people learn so much about as they grow up. Something about it feels eerily familiar, but also unlike anything you’ve ever seen. For many, this is the final resting place of ancestors, or a place where family members were forced to fight for their lives against the mass extermination performed by the Nazis during World War II. A harrowing few hours spent walking the grounds felt like a lifetime, and the things I saw there will never be forgotten. In both the film and on my trip, the hours following the actual visit to the camp were filled with some powerful discussions and the impact of the experience is evident. Through shifting perspectives on life and loss, feelings are shared and safe spaces are vital. The way Eisenberg allows his characters to react freely in the film reveals their reality, and is incredibly cathartic.
It feels a bit strange to say because of how challenging it was, but I feel very lucky for this trip I took. It not only brought me closer to my history and my ancestors, but it also brought me closer to the people on my trip with me. As we learned about each other’s families and swapped stories, we supported each other through some very difficult days. A Real Pain brought me right back to that trip, but not in a way that was stressful or overly heartbreaking. Instead, it reinforced the power of that experience, and reinvigorated so many of the feelings I first had on that trip almost a decade ago. For many, a trip like this is about as direct a connection to our past as we have, and while there are many films made about people reconnecting with their roots, I’ve never seen one handled in this way.
This is one of many recent films (there are two at this festival alone), which aim to describe modern Judaism, and this film is certainly one of the most glowing examples. Eisenberg’s directorial voice here is both unique and powerful. While his first film received mixed reactions upon its premiere, this one is sure to resonate with a lot more people. A large part is due to how great its script is, as well as the brilliant performances of the entire cast.
While this film is filled with great performances, I’d be remiss not to start with Kieran Culkin. Continuing to be one of the finest actors working today, he captures a vulnerable immaturity that instantly draws the audience’s sympathy, even if we can’t quite put our finger on where his intentions lie. Culkin captures so many complex emotional moments in the incredibly short run time, and bounces so well off of the surrounding cast. The other half of this pseudo-buddy comedy is Eisenberg, who’s giving a much-needed straight man performance, which allows Culkin to really run wild. The roles of the other members on this tour are also well performed, but I want to give a special shout out to Will Sharpe who delivers a surprisingly hilarious and moving performance as the mild-mannered tour guide.
The performances are rich and feel extremely authentic, but the star of the show is Eisenberg’s brilliant screenplay, for which he earned the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the festival. Eisenberg made a massive splash at the festival this year with both A Real Pain, and the experimental Sasquatch Sunset (which he stars in). It’s incredibly exciting to see that he is still interested in both off-beat and, frankly, strange movies, while also crafting incredibly relatable and empathetic films like this one. After his last film, I was unsure where Eisenberg’s career as a filmmaker would lead him, but it’s clear his directorial future will be a bright one, and I can’t wait to see how he follows this film up.
A Real Pain celebrated its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and will be released theatrically by Searchlight Pictures.