Cult 101: Withnail & I (1987) 4K Restoration
Director: Bruce Robinson Run Time: 108 min. Release Year: 1987
Starring: Michael Elphick, Paul McGann, Ralph Brown, Richard E. Grant, Richard Griffiths
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English, Latin
About the film:
The ultimate cult British comedy, Bruce Robinson’s semi-autobiographical cinematic bender is a feast of delectably florid dialogue delivered with deadpan relish by stars Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann as, respectively, Withnail and “I,” a pair of perpetually soused, unemployed actors in 1960s London who, desperate to escape their nightmarishly grimy flat, embark on a hilariously misbegotten country getaway beset by menacing locals, bare cupboards, and a randy uncle—all of which they may be able to withstand as long as they don’t run out of alcohol. While Robinson’s dazzling script yields quotable moments galore, it’s the film’s bittersweet evocation of a friendship gradually unraveling that gives this beloved end-of-youth tale its lasting poignancy.
About the filmmaker:
Bruce Robinson is an English actor, director, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote and directed Withnail and I, a film with comic and tragic elements set in London in the late 1960s, which drew on his experiences as a struggling actor, living in poverty in Camden Town.
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