Wah-Wah

Nicholas Hoult as Ralph.

Herald rating: * * * *

That quintessentially English actor, Richard E. Grant arrived in England only a couple of years before his sensational debut as the title character in Withnail and I.

His childhood as the son of a colonial family in Swaziland in the last gasp of Empire in the late 60s springs vividly to life in this powerful and evocative memoir - based on his autobiography With Nails - in which he puts a fine cast through its paces.

It sounds like a predictable idea, but Grant proves an excellent, unshowy director and the characters are so strikingly individual and plausible that it's impossible not to be drawn in.

The film is told through the eyes of young Ralph Compton (successively Fox and Hoult), whose father Harry (Byrne) is the Minister for Education in the colonial government.

When his neurotic and self-obsessed mother (an excellently jaded, bottle-blonde Richardson) takes up with Harry's best mate, Harry hits the bottle with predictable consequences for the family which are mitigated only briefly when he remarries, to a young American, Ruby (Watson, playing deliciously against type).

The family drama is played out against the perfectly evoked background of a ruthlessly stratified expatriate community who seek to recreate pre-war Surrey under African skies. (The odd title comes from Ruby's satirical imitation of the Brits' hyper-English way of speech).

Grant, working on a tight budget on what is a labour of love, has the courage of his restrictions and lets his excellent cast have their heads.

His script is full of lines - Richardson wails when Harry is awarded an honour that "if anyone deserves a medal, it's me" - that have a ring of verisimilitude. Yet for all the unpleasant memories the story must have evoked, Grant seems remarkably free of bitterness and anger.

Harry, even in his cups, is never a monster but rather a man in the grip of demons he cannot control. This, in the end, makes for a film that is likeable, approachable and very affecting.

Verdict: A gawky and hilarious English actor's debut as director is a powerful memoir of his own childhood distinguished both by an excellent cast and complete absence of sentimentalism or bitterness.

Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson, Julie Walters, Nicholas Hoult, Zachary Fox
Director: Richard E. Grant
Running Time: 99 minutes
Rating: M, offensive language, violence, drug use
Screening: Rialto