'A Real Pain' starring Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg is a buddy comedy with a heavy heart
NEW YORK (WABC) -- In an era of blockbusters and franchises comes a kind of film you don't see being made much anymore.
"A Real Pain" is a light film with a heavy heart - one that's personal for writer-director Jesse Eisenberg.
"I feel like I won 10 lotteries a day to be able to do this, this way," Eisenberg said. "The movie has a kind of unusual tone where it's this kind of funny buddy comedy, but it's actually asking these big questions about pain, about history."
The film, which is inspired by Eisenberg's own trip, follows mismatched cousins touring Poland to honor their late grandmother. At the heart of the story is Kieran Culkin's character Benji - a complex soul who lives moment to moment.
"The only other lasting relationship he has is with his cousin and they can't really seem to connect anymore at this age with their different places they are in their life," Culkin said. "He's a pretty severe case for arrested development, whereas his cousin figured it out."
Eisenberg wanted Culkin to play his cousin, even without having seen his Emmy-winning role in "Succession."
"You know, he's so brilliant in this movie. It's hard to describe exactly what he's doing because it's so nuanced and almost in conflict with each other," Eisenberg said. "He's charming, but he's also kind of a bully. He's brilliant, but he also is juvenile. He's sweet and caustic and he's just all of these things in one person and it's just a, it's riveting."
"A Real Pain" is a story about family, connection and healing - and a movie that you might be hearing more about during the next awards season.
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