A Real Pain Movie: Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin’s Unlikely Road Trip Through Grief and History

There’s no such thing as a perfect way to honour the past, but A Real Pain movie doesn’t even try.

That’s its greatest strength. Jesse Eisenberg’s second directorial effort—starring himself and Kieran Culkin as estranged cousins navigating a Holocaust heritage tour in Poland—is both biting and poignant, constantly toeing the line between raw emotion and deadpan wit.

If you thought a film about generational trauma wrapped in a mismatched buddy comedy couldn’t work, A Real Pain movie begs to differ.

A Real Pain Movie Release Date and Premise

A Real Pain movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2024, before its theatrical release on November 1, 2024.

The film follows David Kaplan (Eisenberg), a reserved, socially anxious family man working in online advertising, and his cousin Benji (Culkin), his polar opposite: outspoken, impulsive, and a little too comfortable pushing boundaries.

When their grandmother—a Holocaust survivor—passes away, the two embark on a group tour through Poland to retrace their family’s roots.

From the moment they land at Chopin Airport, the trip is both a logistical and emotional disaster.

Benji has pre-mailed himself cannabis to their hotel. David is perpetually embarrassed.

And their fellow tourists—including a retired Ohio couple, a divorcee seeking connection, and a Rwandan genocide survivor—are caught somewhere between bemused and horrified.

Their guide, James (Will Sharpe), plays it straight, offering historical facts, while Benji, in classic Culkin fashion, rips through the solemnity with sharp, unfiltered honesty.

Why Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin’s Dynamic Works

Culkin is the undeniable standout here, delivering a performance that lingers long after the credits roll.

Benji is simultaneously charming and exhausting, the kind of person you might adore in theory but struggle to be around in practice.

Eisenberg, who has spent his career perfecting the neurotic intellectual archetype, gives David a layered depth beyond his usual tics—he’s not just uncomfortable; he’s quietly grieving, wrestling with a cousin who reminds him too much of a self he’s lost.

The film doesn’t force them into easy resolutions. Instead, it thrives on their constant push-and-pull dynamic.

David wants stability. Benji wants spontaneity. Neither fully understands the other, but both secretly wish they could trade places.

The tension between them escalates with each stop on their itinerary, whether it’s an impromptu Warsaw Uprising reenactment or a heated debate over the performativity of trauma tourism.

A Holocaust Film Without the Expected Sentimentality

Eisenberg’s direction is refreshingly unsentimental. While A Real Pain film acknowledges the weight of its historical backdrop, it refuses to package it neatly.

There’s an unforgettable scene where the group visits Majdanek concentration camp, where Eisenberg strips the film of its score, letting the silence say more than dialogue ever could.

Yet even in its heaviest moments, the film never loses its biting humour.

Benji, in one particularly charged moment, confronts their tour guide about the rehearsed nature of the trip, arguing that real history can’t be condensed into digestible soundbites.

It’s a self-aware critique of the very kind of film Eisenberg is making, which is precisely what makes A Real Pain film so compelling.

It isn’t here to wrap things up with a neat bow—it’s messy, awkward, and achingly human.

The Culkin Effect: A Performance That Transcends Comedy

Kieran Culkin is no stranger to playing the lovable misfit (Succession’s Roman Roy cemented that), but A Real Pain movie gives him an entirely new playground. His portrayal of Benji isn’t just funny—it’s deeply vulnerable.

Beneath the quick wit and casual irreverence, there’s an unmistakable loneliness.

This isn’t a character who simply disrupts the story for comedic relief; he is the story.

The film’s final scene—wordless, haunting, devastating—is one of the best endings in recent memory.

Culkin’s performance here is pure, unfiltered emotion, and it’s no surprise that he’s already collecting accolades, including a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.

A Real Pain Soundtrack: A Classical Undertone

Music plays a key role in shaping the film’s atmosphere. The A Real Pain soundtrack leans heavily on piano compositions by Frédéric Chopin, performed by Israeli-Canadian pianist Tzvi Erez.

Chopin’s intricate melodies weave in and out of the film, acting almost like a third character—sometimes offering an ironic counterpoint to Benji’s unfiltered antics, other times underscoring the weight of the film’s historical setting.

Eisenberg’s decision to let silence dominate key moments, especially at Majdanek, makes the few musical choices even more impactful.

A Real Pain Film: A Journey Without Easy Resolutions

There’s a version of A Real Pain movie that could have leaned into sentimentality or forced catharsis. Eisenberg resists both.

Instead, he presents grief, identity, and history as tangled and unresolved.

The cousins don’t walk away from their trip with newfound wisdom or a fixed relationship. They leave as they arrived: messy, complicated, and deeply human.

This is not just a film about history or personal pain; it’s about the disconnect between how we honour the past and how we live in the present.

Eisenberg understands that history isn’t a lesson to be neatly packaged—it’s a lingering presence, shaping lives in ways that can be deeply felt but never fully understood.

And in that ambiguity, A Real Pain film finds something profound.