Richard E. Grant’s directorial debut dives back half a century to a time when the British Empire had all but crumbled and Swaziland was on the cusp of self-rule. This seemingly unusual choice is a semi-autobiographical account that is part adolescent-awakening, part family drama. Wah-Wah is seen through the impressionable eyes of young Ralph Compton, son of the respected Education Minister (Gabriel Byrne) whose wife (Miranda Richardson) leaves them both. After boarding school, Ralph (Nicholas Hoult) returns to find his now unemployed, alcoholic father has thrown pigeons among the ex-pats by marrying an American air-hostess (Emily Watson).

Her wayward views, the parallel disintegration of the Compton family and that of the British Empire should lend a neat line in satirical comment (think Evelyn Waugh directing White Mischief). Grant hasn’t really developed the chops to pull this thread with any satisfaction, preferring to run with the conventional drama and tug at the comic potential of the situation and his weighty cast. It’s one of the film’s bigger problems as the presence of Richardson, Celia Imrie, Julie Walters and Fenella Woolgar constantly overwhelm the drama, never shaking the notion that they are about to reprise Acorn Antiques at a moments notice. That they’re rehearsing Camelot for the Royal handover doesn’t help.

Wah-Wah is a game production with enough material and star-power for a mini-series,  a tone that’s reinforced by Grant’s staccato pacing. He slides away from the potential of historical value, edging always to the safety of the subject he knows too well. It generates a lumpiness that pulls at the film’s more convincing moments and, as amiable as it is, leaving one as confused about Grant’s heartfelt intentions as his characters’ future in Swaziland.

// COLIN FRASER