Content warning: This article contains mentions of mental illness.
Kieran Culkin has been an actor since 1990, working alongside his brother Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. He was Kevin McCallister’s cousin Fuller, whom he refused to share a bed with.
Since then, Kieran Culkin has been in over 40 movies and TV shows, his most popular role being Roman Roy in Succession. Now, he’s gaining popularity for his show-stopping performance as Benji Kaplan in A Real Pain.
For his performance under Jesse Eisenberg’s direction, Culkin has received a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Alongside these esteemed awards, he has received praise from audience members for his accurate and moving portrayal of an individual suffering from depression.
Culkin has gotten his flowers for Succession and even Home Alone, but A Real Pain shows the world just how talented the younger Culkin brother is.
A REAL PAIN: THE PLOT
A Real Pain follows cousins Benji and David Kaplan as they honor their grandmother by touring Poland. Throughout the tour, the cousins delve into their personal struggles with mental illnesses.
The tour explores Poland, traveling through cities and ending with a concentration camp. In fact, the final tour scenes were filmed in an actual historical concentration camp, as Eisenberg wanted to stay true to his heritage and honor the history behind the tour and the location.
After their tour, the two cousins visit their grandmother’s old house, honoring her memory by placing rocks on the doorstep: an act of reverence and remembrance. As they travel through Poland, Benji and David learn about their Jewish heritage and all that their ancestors went through.
A Real Pain is a dramedy that delves into the experiences of those with depression, anxiety, and OCD while honoring Polish and Jewish history.
BENJI KAPLAN: THE CHARACTER
Although it’s never explicitly stated, Culkin’s character, Benji Kaplan, is experiencing depression. This is demonstrated through acting and writing choices, such as Kaplan’s mood swings and the various ways he reacts to events.
In one scene, Eisenberg’s character, David Kaplan, says, “…how did the product of a thousand f*cking miracles overdose on a bottle of sleeping pills?” This quote tells the audience what they may have suspected: Benji Kaplan has been and is experiencing crippling depression.
After A Real Pain’s release, many audience members stated that Culkin was simply “playing himself” and didn’t “need to act” to play Kaplan. There may be some aspects of Kaplan’s character that parallel Culkin’s personality, but playing a character as complex as Benji Kaplan takes serious talent. To be able to demonstrate what it’s like to be depressed, to show how difficult it can be for the individual and those around them, is not an easy task to perform.
On top of his acting abilities, Eisenberg has discussed how, although it can be stressful to work with Culkin, it pays off in the end. In one interview, Eisenberg explains how Culkin would come into film days without looking at the script and would glance at a scene and know his lines. In another interview, it’s stated that throughout filming, Eisenberg learned that Culkin doesn’t tend to do things halfway. As they filmed around the world, Culkin slept on the floor of his hotel and, in the final scene of the movie, Culkin asked for the slap to be real.
A Real Pain not only demonstrates the incredible talent Culkin has, but it also shows how committed he is. Playing Benji Kaplan could not have been an easy task, and Culkin did it in such a way that many people found him aggravating and lovable, just as the tour group did.
EISENBERG & CULKIN
When casting A Real Pain, Culkin wasn’t even on Eisenberg’s radar. It wasn’t until Eisenberg’s sister told him about Culkin that he considered casting him. Then, Culkin was cast without even auditioning.
Eisenberg had only ever seen Culkin in Home Alone, and his performance must’ve been so stellar that Eisenberg thought about it for years. Or Eisenberg just trusted his sister (and thank goodness he did).
When discussing the crazy way of being cast, Culkin says he and Eisenberg had only ever crossed paths one or two times in their pasts. Then, they starred alongside each other as cousins and traveled the world on the press tour.
THE AWARD SHOWS
Throughout the award show season, Culkin racked up his fair share of trophies. On many occasions, he was up against his previous Succession co-star, Jeremy Strong. When Culkin won his Oscar, he gave Strong a personal shoutout and explained that he had and always would admire Strong’s talent.
Culkin’s award show speeches were always entertaining, ranging from chaotic to beautiful in one minute. Culkin wasn’t the only member of A Real Pain to win awards; Jesse Eisenberg also won a BAFTA for original screenplay. In his speech and many interviews since the movie’s release, Eisenberg has praised Culkin for working so hard and portraying Kaplan just as he saw fit. Although Eisenberg does voice a few grievances that came with working alongside Culkin, none of the grievances outweigh the admiration for his co-star.
A Real Pain is a touching movie that leaves you with a sense of grief and sadness. After I finished it, I thought about it for days, and still am over a week later. Not only did Culkin put on a stellar performance, but Eisenberg also did a phenomenal job.
The script and directorial jobs were both done eloquently, all while Eisenberg was also starring as David Kaplan. In his role, he managed to perfectly encapsulate having anxiety and OCD, as well as caring so deeply for someone who is so challenging to love. Many scenes in this movie demonstrated personal depression struggles, but also the struggles one feels when having anxiety and when constantly worrying about their loved ones.
This movie is a beautiful story, and if you’re ever in need of a thought-provoking, emotional film, I recommend heading over to Hulu and watching A Real Pain.
If you or someone you know is seeking help for mental health concerns, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website, or call 1-800-950-NAMI(6264). For confidential treatment referrals, visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website, or call the National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP(4357). In an emergency, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK(8255) or call 911.
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