A Real Pain
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Feature
A Real Pain
***Winner – Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award – 2024 Sundance Film Festival
Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.
Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg has crafted a poignant, funny exploration of the unexpected permutations of intergenerational trauma. Eisenberg’s intimate, resonant script complements the tension and humor of the two very different cousins’ tumultuous road trip with a sensitively drawn reckoning of the legacy of World War II among the survivors.
While Benji’s irreverent charm only partially masks his deep melancholy, David’s frustration with and genuine love for his cousin becomes achingly clear. Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin give devastating, funny performances as characters grappling with their grandmother’s history and the ways their own lives have diverged.
2024, 90 minutes, USA/Poland, Directed by Jesse Eisenberg, Rated R
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“A frequently laugh-out-loud funny odd couple road trip movie whose emotional wallop sneaks up and floors you.”
– David Rooney, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER -
“A Real Pain’ is a road movie, a buddy comedy—and a really great film, period. [Kieran] Culkin rewards his director/castmate with the single greatest, funniest, most cringe-comic and heartbreaking performance of his career.”
– David Fear, ROLLING STONE -
“Understated, funny, and gradually heart-swelling, writer-director Jesse Eisenberg’s Chopin-kissed sophomore feature is as graceful as movies come. Expect to hear about this one in the next awards season.”
– Tomris Laffly, HARPER’S BAZAAR -
“It’s a delight and a revelation — a deft, funny, heady, beautifully staged ramble of a road movie.”
– Owen Gleiberman, VARIETY -
“It’s among the most brittle and beautiful work of Eisenberg’s career. Spectacular work…I don’t hesitate to say that I think A Real Pain will remain one of the best films of the year.”
– Erik Anderson, AWARDS WATCH -
“Eisenberg’s rich script for “A Real Pain” is the kind of nuanced character study that I could talk about for hours, but the main draw of this film is going to be the phenomenal performance from Kieran Culkin.”
– Brian Tallerico, ROGEREBERT.COM
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