This message comes from Deadly Fortune, the investigative story that dives deep into a world of power, money and greed and one man's secret quest to grab the million dollar fortune of his deceased wife.
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I'm Terry Gross.
My guest, Jesse Eisenberg wrote, directed and stars in the film A Real Pain.
Oscar predictors expect the film to be nominated for multiple Academy Awards.
Eisenberg had his first major film role in 2002's Roger Dodger when he was still in high school.
Three years later, when he was 21, he was a star of the film the Squid and the Whale.
He played Mark Zuckerberg in the Social Network about the early days of Facebook.
He played the journalist interviewing writer David Foster Wallace in the end of the tour.
He starred in the 2022 miniseries Fleischman is in Trouble, in a Real Pain.
He plays a husband and father who goes on a Jewish heritage tour in Poland with his cousin, played by Kieran Kolkin, who was like a brother when they were growing up.
The trip is funded by their beloved, recently deceased grandmother, who left money in her will for the trip so that they could see the home she fled when the Nazis were in power.
Each cousin is dealing with mental health issues which are exacerbated by the trip.
Eisenberg's character is introverted and takes meds for his ocd.
He's constantly hurt and embarrassed by his cousin's inappropriate behavior.
Culkin's character is dealing with depression, but when around other people he becomes extroverted, manic in ways that can be seen as charismatic or incredibly annoying and intrusive.
Both extremes are intensified by the disconnect Culkin's character experiences between the first class train car the tour travels on and the cattle cars that brought Jews to their death.
He's also troubled by the disconnect between the nice restaurants the tour takes them to, while at the same time the death camp Majdanek is on the tour.
Our critic John Powers wrote, quote, with the lightest of touches.