'Wah-Wah': Coming-of-age in expatriate turmoil

African-born British actor Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park, Withnail and I) makes a very accomplished debut as a writer-director, mining his own early years in Wah-Wah, a coming-of-age tale too idiosyncratic not to be based on real life.

Samuel Goldwyn Films 'Wah-Wah' B+ The verdict: An affecting coming-of-age memoir, told with personal poignancy by writer-director Grant. Director: Richard E. Grant Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Nicholas Hoult, Emily Watson, Julie Walters Run time: 99 minutes Release date: May 12, 2006 Rating: R for some language and brief sexuality. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Wah-Wah'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Set in Grant's native Swaziland in the late '60s, just as that nation is approaching independence from British rule, young Ralph Compton spies his mother (Miranda Richardson) having sex with a neighbor, breaking up the family and sending his father (Gabriel Byrne), a much admired minister of education, into an alcoholic tailspin.

Ralph is sent off to boarding school and, when he returns, dad has a new wife, an outspoken American named Ruby (Emily Watson). She impatiently listens to all the colonial small talk and refusing to join in, declares it all "wah-wah," much to Ralph's delight.

While Swaziland provides an attractive backdrop, Grant seems uninterested in the politics of the time, preferring to observe the quaint interactions of the expatriate community and the family tensions caused by his volatile father and the return of his snippy, self-centered mum. The film climaxes in a community theater production of Camelot, in honor of a visit by England's Princess Margaret, a formative event that probably means more to Grant than it does to us.

Like many actors who go behind the camera, Grant gets some first-rate performances from his cast, notably Byrne as Ralph's deeply flawed dad and Watson as his broadly drawn second wife, who turns out to have far more depth than initially suspected.