January 29, 2025
Cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) Kaplan grew up together as children. They used to be very close, but they drifted apart as they grew older. Their personalities were poles apart. David was a no-nonsense family man with his wife Priya, a young son Abe and a stable job in digital ad sales. Benji was a charming free-spirit who still lived at his parents' house and played video games on their couch.
The two of them got together again when their beloved grandmother passed away and left them money in her will to go visit her homeland Poland. They joined a heritage tour led by scholarly British guide James (Will Sharpe). Their tour mates include a divorced lady Marcia (an unrecognizable Jennifer Grey), a retired couple Diane and Mark (Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes) and Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), a Rwandan genocide survivor.
Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed and starred in this buddy road comedy that brought us along around Poland sites that commemorated the Holocaust. Eisenberg's script excellently captured this serious sentiment with a sensitive sense of humor. He actually brought up the irony of his premise within the film itself -- how they are enjoying the comfort of a first class tour to follow the footsteps of those Jews who suffered and died during the war.
The music that accompanied us during our tour of Poland was mellow piano music written by Polish maestro Frederic Chopin, in keeping with the theme of celebrating Poland. During the scenes where the group entered Majdanek, a real Nazi concentration camp, Eisenberg wisely decided to fade out the music and kept James' voice-over narration to a minimum as the sad eerie blue-stained walls and pile of shoes spoke volumes. Powerful.
Eisenberg gave himself the straight man role of David, and allowed his co-star Kieran Culkin to run away with the showier role of Benji. While David was the responsible, aloof, uptight introvert, Benji was the charismatic guy who easily connected with others, was not afraid to show his emotions, and to frankly speak his mind. David was annoyed at him and mortified for him, but he was also secretly envious of his cousin's charm (a real pain, so to speak).
Culkin dominated the screen throughout the film as he internalized Benji's mental turmoil in the form of unfiltered behavior and unflinching honesty. This electrifying performance has gained him critical acclaim, nominations and award, likely an Oscar as well. David did have one scene where he broke down and finally poured his heart out about his concern for his cousin, and here, Eisenberg reminds us how good an actor he still is. 8/10
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