A Real Pain Movie Featurette - Odd Couple
Actor and filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg returns to the director's chair with Cousins, a bittersweet comedy-drama about family ties, generational memory, and the complexities of heritage. Hitting theaters on November 1, 2024, the film stars Eisenberg alongside Kieran Culkin and Will Sharpe as mismatched cousins David and Benji. The two embark on a journey across Poland to honor their late grandmother’s legacy.
What begins as a simple tribute quickly becomes an emotional and, at times, turbulent adventure. As they visit sites connected to their family’s past, long-buried tensions surface, testing their patience and loyalty. Through humor and reflection, Cousins explores how revisiting family history can help bridge generational divides, reveal hidden truths, and ultimately bring relatives closer together.
With a mix of heart and humor, Cousins promises audiences an intimate, thought-provoking exploration of identity and the sometimes-complicated bonds of family.
Actor and filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg returns to the director's chair with Cousins, a bittersweet comedy-drama about family ties, generational memory, and the complexities of heritage. Hitting theaters on November 1, 2024, the film stars Eisenberg alongside Kieran Culkin and Will Sharpe as mismatched cousins David and Benji. The two embark on a journey across Poland to honor their late grandmother’s legacy.
What begins as a simple tribute quickly becomes an emotional and, at times, turbulent adventure. As they visit sites connected to their family’s past, long-buried tensions surface, testing their patience and loyalty. Through humor and reflection, Cousins explores how revisiting family history can help bridge generational divides, reveal hidden truths, and ultimately bring relatives closer together.
With a mix of heart and humor, Cousins promises audiences an intimate, thought-provoking exploration of identity and the sometimes-complicated bonds of family.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00So, um, Dabers and I are cousins.
00:03We used to be joined at the hip like feckin' Katie and Eilish.
00:06Remember them?
00:07Yeah, don't say that.
00:08That's funny.
00:10I like to think of A Real Pain as a kind of complicated story of these two guys,
00:14two cousins whose lives have diverged in a kind of funny way.
00:17Listen, I think we should check you in. I did a thing online.
00:19Oh, no, I did. I checked in a while ago.
00:20Sorry, when did you get here?
00:21A few hours ago.
00:22Really?
00:22Yeah.
00:23I mean, the flight's not for another, like, two hours.
00:25Yeah, but they open the airport super early. You can just come here and hang out.
00:27You meet the craziest people here, dude.
00:29David is kind of, you know, constantly second-guessing himself,
00:31constantly worried about the future.
00:33And Benji is this unencumbered, free spirit who is this incredibly charming guy.
00:37Wait, you're not, like, taking weed into Poland, are you?
00:39Really? They're gonna arrest two Jews in Poland for a little bit of weed.
00:42That's a good look for the Polish people.
00:44All right, just try to keep it down.
00:47The two characters of David and Benji are so beautifully complex and moving
00:52while being extremely funny.
00:54Their grandmother, that they were both pretty close to, dies,
00:57and they go back to Poland and see where she came from and do a tour.
01:02Oh, hey, can I borrow your phone, man?
01:03Don't you have a phone?
01:04Yeah, but it doesn't play music.
01:06I just like jokes more than anything.
01:07But if I can set them in the context of something dramatic,
01:10I feel like there'll be some kind of spark there.
01:12David and Benji's grief for their grandmother was so elegantly written.
01:17There was comedy within it in the relationship between cousins.
01:21Oh, yeah, dude, I totally forgot. You have super nice feet.
01:24Do I?
01:25Yeah, and they've aged really well, too.
01:27They remind me of Grandma's feet.
01:29Benji is very charismatic and lovable and just sort of lives moment to moment.
01:33You never really know what you're gonna get.
01:35Does it look real?
01:36Well, they're twice the size of you in metal, so, you know, no.
01:41David feels like the adult, and he's gotten married.
01:44He's had the kid, and Benji is so unfiltered and like a child.
01:49And when you see them in action and you see them interacting, it's hilarious.
01:53You don't need to get the hat.
01:54Do you want one, too?
01:55No, you look like the Ricola man.
01:57What frustrates Benji is how much David has changed when he feels like he hasn't.
02:01I know you're not the most comfortable person with groups and people and...
02:05I'm not?
02:06No, but it's amazing that you're here putting yourself out there so boldly for me.
02:10Thank you, man.
02:11Let's go smoke a joint.
02:13You want somebody to feel something,
02:15and I hope people can experience it as seeing these mismatched two guys
02:19flail alongside each other in these various contexts.
02:22The conductor's gonna come through taking tickets. We tell him we're going to the bathroom.
02:25This is ridiculous. Tickets are probably like 12 bucks.
02:27That's the principle of things. We shouldn't have to pay for train tickets in Poland. This is our country.
02:30No, it's not. It was our country. They kicked us out because they thought we were cheap.
02:42You