A Real Pain (2024) – Hauntingly Hilarious

Released: 26th December 2024
Seen: 24th Feburary 2025

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is a phrase that we really need to say more often nowadays because it feels like people have chosen to intentionally not remember the past and are actively trying to repeat it. One of the things from our past that it feels like we’re currently getting a bit of a refresher course on is the horrors of Nazi Germany, because for some reason we thought that could only happen in Germany. It was a true horror, one that people have tried to ensure they never forget for nearly 100 years and this includes people making trips to the actual camps so they can get a better sense of what their ancestors went through. This is the kind of trip that should be an emotional one that’s designed to connect people with their history but it’s become something of a commercial venture and that strange feeling is the subject of A Real Pain which is a really fascinating experience.

A Real Pain follows a pair of cousins, David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they embark on a tour that’s going to take them all the way from the comfort of their home in New York to the camp Majdanek located in Poland. Along the way, we learn that David is kind of a rule follower who clearly has some anxiety issues but also spends a lot of time worrying about Benji, meanwhile Benji is a very emotional person who kind of goes on his own whims and has a lot of high highs and some low lows. They are something of an odd couple and the way they try to relate to each other while dealing with their family history that’s now literally surrounding them as they travel through Poland.

Writer/Director/Star Jesse Eisenberg said in an interview with Rolling Stone that A Real Pain was inspired by him seeing an ad with four simple words “Auschwitz tours, with lunch”. It’s a wild phrase to see, no doubt about it, but it inspired him to write a piece that contrasts the horrors of the past with the modern comforts of today and how that disconnect makes it hard to, again quoting Eisenberg “honor and revere the history” and boy did he nail it. There’s something visceral about the contrast between the horrors of the Holocaust contrasted with the fact you can now get there by a first-class train ticket and stay in fancy hotels, smoke some weed and then take photos around the locations where people were brutally murdered by a fascist and Eisenberg absolutely nails it not only with his script (which swerves between heartfelt emotion and biting comedic moments) but his direction and acting just make this into a film that moves at a brisk pace and never lets you lose sight of the core point about how we don’t have any real way to truly engage with the horrors of the past thanks to those creature comforts.

Now while Eisenberg’s acting is great it’s hard to deny he has been outshone by the powerhouse of Kieran Culkin who just blows his way through A Real Pain with an energy that just explodes in every single frame he’s in. It’s a performance that is designed to feel a little manic, a little all over the place but it never feels like it’s out of Kieran’s control. It’s a performance that lets you buy in that this is the guy who would eagerly jump up to take photos with statues of war heroes but also tell a tour guide he’s being inappropriate without ever feeling hypocritical. It’s the performance that gives A Real Pain its comedy and its heart all at the same time, you can’t really help but be enamoured by this guy as he just gets on with his life and when elements of his own personal history are revealed it makes them hit with even more tragic emotion. There’s a reason Kieran is the front-runner for the Supporting Actor Oscar this year and it’s not going to be a shock when he takes it home.

Of course, what really makes A Real Pain great is that it’s not handling the topic with kid gloves. It knows it’s handling a heavy topic, one that could potentially upset people, but it’s not about to tip-toe around it. It’s direct and blunt while also being a fun time with a pair of interesting characters in a unique situation that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s a brisk 90 minutes and it flies by on wings made of charm that carry it from start to finish. Obviously, there are a lot of sad moments in the film, it’s got a lot of personal struggles to talk about and the overwhelming topic of fascism is always going to be hard for people (at least, it should be) but it manages to handle that topic fantastically and still having moments of joy sprinkled in to show that there’s many ways to approach the kind of grief that this trip should bring. It’s just a tight and well-presented film, it doesn’t have to be much more than that.

A Real Pain is a real treasure with some great lead performances, a pretty great script and enough heart to make anyone willing to give this film a chance a good time. It’s a heavy topic and one we need to talk about more, sure there’s no good way in modern times to experience or explore the horrors of Nazi Germany but maybe we need to find them… especially now when it feels like we’re just weeks away from fully reliving it, this kind of film feels timely and I wish it didn’t. It’s a must-watch for many reasons, from the performances to the need for us to remember what is at risk. It’s a real pain I have to say that but apparently that’s where we are now.