ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

RICHARD E GRANT is the latest star to make a successful transition from actor to filmmaker. Based on incidents from his own life, “Wah Wah” is an affectionate, keenly observed portrait of a volatile father/son relationship set in Swaziland at the last gasp of the British Empire in the late 1960s.

Beautifully acted by a strong cast, it takes a painful, personal family history and transforms it into a touching coming of age drama.

The Swaziland of Grant’s youth was the last outpost of English colonialism, where stiff upper lip traditions of cricket matches and country club civility concealed seething snobbery, drunken disappointment and casual infidelity.

Grant’s alter ego, Ralph (Zac Fox), is caught in the crossfire of his parents unhappiness when his mother Lauren (Miranda Richardson) leaves his father Harry (Gabriel Byrne) for another man.

Ralph is immediately dispatched to boarding school and returns two years later (now played by Nicholas Hoult) to discover that his father has married Ruby (Emily Watson), a brash, warmhearted American who cheerfully flies in the face of convention.

Avoiding the trap of cosy nostalgia, Grant gives his directorial debut a strong backbone by never flinching from the truth of his father’s alcoholism. Gabriel Byrne is both charming and frightening as a loving father whose best intentions are constantly sabotaged by his love of drink.

Grant never judges him or any of the characters, but merely invites us to understand them and see what part they played in forming his character. Shifting between social satire and throat-catching melodrama, Grant’s first film as a writer and director is an understated, quietly impressive triumph.

Selected nationwide release
Director: Richard E Grant
Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson, Julie Walters, Nicholas Hoult
Screenwriter: Richard E Grant
Certificate: 15
Running time: 99 mins
Country: UK
Year: 2005

© Allan Hunter, 2006