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A Real Pain is a comedy/drama which has taken almost a year to reach UK cinemas since it first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024.
The two leads – Benji (Kieran Culkin – Wiener-Dog) and David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg, who also writes and directs, the latter being for just his second feature film) – are cousins with Jewish heritage, who’ve been liked brothers since kids.
David is the nervous, socially-awkward type who takes pills for his OCD, as well as being a loner type, even though he’s married, while Benji is more gregarious, even to the point where, in a blasé fashion, he mails himself some weed to the hotel, to avoid bringing it through customs!
A Real Pain sees the pair going to Poland for a tour of important, historical places relating to World War II and the Holocaust; also making it like a pilgrimage, as their grandmother – who was a Holocaust survivor – has passed away, and they want to visit her house. They’re not just the two making this trip, but are amongst a group of disparate individuals including Marcia (Jennifer Grey, looking absolutely stunning at 64), whose mother was also a survivor of the Holocaust.
It also has lots of offbeat, quirky moments, including as they arrive at their double room, with Benji commenting that David’s feet look nice (lul what?), and despite sharing that room with no-one else, a situation still leads to the former wanting to discuss it, and saying to the latter, “Meet me in the bathroom”.
Along the way, tempers flare, while revelations will come to the surface, and we have a film which is nothing less than compelling from start to finish.
For once, I also experienced a decent audience in a film. It’s a 15-certificate, so no kids in there, but the subject matter will also put off the louts, since one segment sees the group going to visit a concentration camp, and the whole audience were completely silent for that part. They won’t see this, but thankyou for that.
A Real Pain shows you can have a brilliant film which lasts just 90 minutes, and doesn’t need to go on longer – even though it would’ve been nice to see more of Poland, but doesn’t outstay its welcome like most films, these days. It’s also one that brings something out of every character so as to make them memorable.
A Real Pain is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 90 minutes
Release date: January 10th 2025
Studio: Topic Studios
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Rating: 9/10
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Producers: Jesse Eisenberg, Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Ewa Puszczynska, Jennifer Semler, Emma Stone
Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg
Cast:
Benji Kaplan: Kieran Culkin
David Kaplan: Jesse Eisenberg
James: Will Sharpe
Mark: Daniel Oreskes
Diane: Liza Sadovy
Eloge: Kurt Egyiawan
Marcia: Jennifer Grey
Priya: Ellora Torchia
Abe: Banner Eisenberg
Conductor: Piotr Czarniecki
Pianist: Krzysztof Jaszczak
Older Man: Marek Kasprzyk
Son: Jakub Pruski
Flight Attendant: Olha Bosova
Receptionist: Jakub Gasowski
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.