Film Review: A Real Pain
Modern Poland is woven into a deeply moving pilgrimage and character study.
Director: Jesse Eisenman, 2024
David: This is so fucking stupid. Tickets are probably like twelve bucks.
Benji: It's the principle of the thing. We shouldn't have to pay for train tickets in Poland. This is our country.
David: No, it's not, it was our country. They kicked us out 'cause they thought we were cheap.
Confession: I didn’t even know film we were watching as my partner bought the tickets, and was quietly blown away by Eisenman’s second outing as director.
A Real Pain introduces us to mis-matched cousins David (Eisenman) and Benji (played by Succession’s Kieran Culkin), as they journey to the ancestral home of their deceased Polish grandmother. If I saw the premise on paper, I couldn’t conceive of how a part-comedy could be pulled off in the context of a holocaust tour. The execution is pulled off with wonderfully understated performances by a fantastic supporting cast; from divorcee Marcia (Jennifer Grey), affable British tour guide James (Will Sharpe), and Rwandan Genocide survivor-turned-Jewish pilgrim Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), A Real Pain is a warm, often emotionally raw insight into the lives of two personalities moulded by the same life experiences.
I don’t really know what else to say about this film other than to go and watch it as soon as you can. The cinematography captures the Polish landscape effortlessly, and it’s notable for the first feature film to be permitted inside Majdanek concentration camp; a profoundly upsetting location which has been skilfully woven into the narrative.
This review originally appeared in Dispatch Edition #3.
The Dispatch is a monthly roundup by British speculative fiction writer, Jordan Acosta. News, short reviews and more, published every first Thursday. You can subscribe at jordanacosta.co, and read previous editions, here.
