Wah-Wah
Wah-Wah ★★ 2005 (R)
Grant debuts as a writer/director in an autobiographical family story set in Swaziland in the late 1960s on the eve of the African nation's independence from Britain. Young Ralph (Fox) catches his mother Lauren (Richardson) committing adultery. Lauren walks out on the family, and husband/father Harry (Byrne) takes to drink, sending Ralph to boarding school. When the boy returns (now played by Hoult), he discovers his father has suddenly married a brash American, Ruby (Watson). Ruby becomes the teenager's ally, which is a good thing since the ex-pat colony is breaking apart, Harry's drinking makes him violent, and Ralph's mother suddenly decides to return. 97m/C DVD . GB FR Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson, Julie Walters, Nicholas Hoult, Celia Imrie, Julian Wadham, Fenella Woolgar, Sid Mitchell, Zachary Fox, Ian Roberts; D: Richard E. Grant; W: Richard E. Grant; C: Pierre Aim; M: Patrick Doyle.