We are constantly confronted by history. The history of our cultures and traditions. Of our families. Of our own personal relationships. Can we – or should we seek to – ever escape the tightly woven net of our preoccupation with our past?
Jesse Eisenberg explores these questions with curiosity, humour and insight in the lightly plotted, semi-road movie A Real Pain. In his second feature as writer-director, he also shows a commendable diffidence when it comes to offering definitive answers.
David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) are 40-something cousins, nearly identical in age. Close in their youth, but they have drifted apart as their lives have taken very different trajectories.
