Tuesday's cinema is emotional and funny

A film in the Kilcullen Bridge Cinema series, screening next Tuesday, 10 June, examines family jealousies and our relationship with the past, writes Teresa Nurse. A Real Pain has been described as 'a small film about great matters'.

Academy Award winner of Best Supporting Actor, it stars Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg, and Olha Bosova. The film's storyline tells how, after the death of their beloved Holocaust survivor grandmother, mismatched cousins David and Benji take a trip to visit her family home in Poland to honour her. Previously close, they have drifted apart due to the responsibilities and disappointments of adult life. The trip forces them to confront their own resentments and personal demons, with both humour and raw emotion.

Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin give devastating, funny performances as characters grappling with their history and the ways their own lives have diverged. The deftly humanistic script, plus terrific performances, give this film a powerful emotional kick. 

Awarded five stars and described by The Guardian as 'a masterpiece', A Real Pain is a real treat. 

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