Showtimes November 29 - December 5:

Continuing December 6 - 12:

Directed by Jesse Eisenberg and featuring Kieran Culkin in his first post-Succession role, there’s Oscar buzz for A Real Pain, and you can feel it everywhere from the writing to the direction to the performances. A delight and a revelation, this story about two estranged cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother offers a delicate tension that will leave you laughing, tearing up, and thinking deeply about the intricacies of human connection.

In the movie, Eisenberg plays David, a sweet and conventional middle class family man, and Culkin plays Benji, his enigmatic loose cannon of a cousin. With a social intelligence that’s off the charts and little filter for his thoughts and feelings, Benji lives with an exuberance that David admires. Yet he’s also, at heart, an anti-social misfit, one who’s clinging to the recklessness of youth just at the moment he should be leaving it behind. As the duo travels through their grandmother’s homeland, their journey is in equal part an early mid-life search for meaning and a journey of two very different Jewish Americans reckoning with their past. Accompanied by the delicate serenity of Chopin piano music (the composer was, like the grandmother, a native of Poland), the film explores generational trauma, familial rivalry, and the strangeness of being in a country you don’t recognize, but that’s nonetheless partly your own. In a remarkable balancing act, it’s also very funny. Vibrant, raw, and relatable, by its poignant final scenes, you’ll feel like you’ve really been somewhere and gained a new appreciation for what it means to be home.  

(Poland, US / 2024 / Directed by Jesse Eisenberg)
R / 1 hr 30 mins