A Real Pain (2024)

It seems like there are a small handful of movies that feel quite independent, meaning that they feel special and well done with a message. They are also likely to be commercial duds, able to make back what they cost to produce, but not blockbuster material, but that are both enjoyable and a bit painful to watch. This is one such movie this year--it is nominated for best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay. The story follows two cousins — David, played by Jesse Eisenberg (who wrote and directed the film), and Benji, played by Kieran Culkin — their grandmother has died and left them a little bit of money. They embark on the concentration camp tour of Poland to find out a bit more about her--she was a Polish Holocaust survivor. I have done this trip myself with a Polish Jew who survived the war by hiding in the woods. It is a harrowing experience, mostly because of the magnitude of what the Germans did on such a massive scale. The two men were once as close as brothers, the two have since drifted apart. David has a wife, a kid and a successful career. Benji, on the other hand, is an impassioned man with nothing really going on in his life. As the two explore Poland with a Holocaust tour group, Benji’s social abrasiveness and strong opinions both unsettle and endear him to David and the group. Having just read The Anxious Generation and the struggle of boys moving from childhood to adulthood, there is a real embodyment of that struggle here.