A Real Pain

Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Screenwriters: Jesse Eisenberg

Institute History

  • 2024 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history.

Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg (When You Finish Saving the World, 2022 Sundance Film Festival) returns to the Festival with a poignant, funny exploration of the unexpected permutations of intergenerational trauma. Eisenberg’s intimate, resonant script complements the tension and humor of the two very different cousins’ tumultuous road trip with a sensitively drawn reckoning of the legacy of World War II among the survivors of survivors.

While Benji’s irreverent charm only partially masks his deep melancholy, David’s frustration with and genuine love for his cousin become achingly clear. Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin give devastating, funny performances as characters grappling with their grandmother’s history and the ways their own lives have diverged. Micha? Dymek’s eloquent cinematography and a Chopin-driven score bind the tour group’s complicated, emotional reaction to the Polish setting into the texture of the film.—HZ

Available in person. Also available online for the public (January 25–28) and credentialed press and industry (January 24–28).



Screenings include closed and open captions, as well as audio description.

Screening Details

Sundance Film Festival Awards

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]