A Real Pain

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin are cousins reuniting to honour their grandmother in a deft and moving dramedy. 

Written and directed by Eisenberg, A Real Pain sees neurotic, hyper-articulate David (Eisenberg) and chaotic misfit Benji (a scene-stealing Culkin) clash on a group trip for Jewish Americans that’s counterintuitively led by a non-Jewish Brit (Will Sharpe) and takes in Warsaw, Lublin and Majdanek Concentration Camp as well as their grandmother’s last home in Poland. Funny and eminently watchable, it’s a thoughtful, character-driven look at the light and dark of life and how to reconcile them.