Sometimes you see a trailer that is so fascinating, and so alluring, that you just know you are going to have to watch the film at the cinema – on the day it comes out – even if that day is Boxing Day!
In his impressive second feature directorial endeavour, writer/director Jesse Eisenberg delivers A Real Pain, equal parts gut-punching drama and whip-smart comedy, with an award-winning screenplay that exudes humanity as it explores complicated familial relationships beset by intergenerational trauma.
Clever, funny and profoundly moving, this Sundance Film Festival award-winning dramedy follows two mismatched cousins, David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin), who reunite for a tour through Poland to honour their deceased grandmother and reconnect with their heritage. Their adventure takes a turn when the duo’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family and World War II history.
Culkin dazzles in a career-best performance while co-starring alongside Eisenberg. The highly acclaimed actors make for a superb team, demonstrating deep empathy and understanding with mesmerising depictions of a wide range of complex emotions as the cousins grapple with the ways their lives have diverged while also trying to reconnect. While Benji’s irreverent charm only partially masks his deep inner melancholy, David’s frustration with and genuine love for his cousin is palpable.
A Real Pain blends an odd-couple buddy road trip with an, at times uncomfortable, yet relatable family drama that sensitively taps into the pain still felt by family of Holocaust survivors.
Screenings start Boxing Day at Palace Cinemas, Byron Bay.
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