I didn’t expect to feel quite so gutted by what seemed to be an ‘odd couple in Poland’ navel-gazing by Jesse Eisenberg.

It was, perhaps of course, much more than it seemed. Eisenberg writes and directs and plays main character David, an anxiety-ridden New Yorker of Jewish heritage who has decided to go on a Holocaust tour of Poland with his cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin).

At first glance they are clearly an odd couple. Close when they were young, their lives are now separate and their character differences are clearly marked. As they join their tour group, Benji is quick to win people over, from airport security staff to members of the group with his sometimes gauche but always heartfelt interactions.

Benji feels like the kind of person you wish you were, unworried about what people think of him, quick to make conversation, unafraid to try new things, to enjoy different food with gusto and to live life to the fullest. It’s not as simple as that though, and as the tour progresses through Poland, we see that Benji is someone who feels emotion strongly and cycles quickly from joy to (real) pain.

For David it is a discomfort and an inconvenience but, almost against his will, he is forced to confront not only who Benji is as a person but how it makes him feel about himself.

Woven through are stories of Jewish heritage, with the people in the group explaining why recognising this history is important to them, from recent divorcee Marcia (Jennifer Grey) to Rwandan Jewish convert Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan). The scenes in the concentration camp are largely silent and genuinely moving.

The two characters of David and Benji really resonated with me, I can see these traits in my own family. Benji in particular – and he is the real focus of the movie – brought me to tears. The title, obviously with two meanings, is underlined in the final scene where we contemplate those who feel emotion deeply and sit with them for a moment trying to understand how the world must be.