Directed by Bruce Robinson
107 minutes
In English with English subtitles

I think that this must be by far the greatest cult film to ever come out of England. Just ask anyone who is slightly out of the mainstream in England about this film and they will start raving about it. It's a film that many British people watch repeatedly, seeing it 20 or 30 times, quoting lines by heart. But although it has a monumental stature there, it's a film that has hardly been shown anywhere else. A real secret.

The setting is 1969 (the year that many Hippies dreams burnt-out or went sour) and is about two unemployed actors.... the elegantly wasted Withnail and the anxiety ridden Marwood. They are living on the edge, buried in alcohol, drugs and dirty dishes in a rancid Camden flat. Their lives are a continual struggle to keep warm, alive and sane, waiting for the pubs to open.... until one day when Withnail comes up with the idea to go to his uncle Monty's unused cottage in the countryside. Their adventure shoots off from there. 

This film truly shows what can be done with just brilliant writing and wit. It's clever as hell, and the main characters will sink deep into your soul. The film is pretty much based on director Bruce Robinson's own experiences as a struggling actor when he was young. There are no car chases, explosions, aliens or superheros. It captures a world when you are young, and all you need is a roof over your head and a beer or whiskey to survive and be satisfied. Instead of having a job or a mortgage on a home, our main characters survive on their imagination and a sharp sense of humor - and that's their freedom. 

The film's soundtrack brings us Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale, Schubert's Piano Sonata in B Flat Major, along with Jimi Hendrix tunes like All Along the Watchtower and Voodoo Chile. I think you get the vibe, it's a real beauty with a melancholic edge. The soundtrack also includes While My Guitar Gently Weeps by the late George Harrison, who provided much of the financial backing for this flick. 

An absolutely legendary film that many consider the greatest British film ever made, and one that will strike a chord with anyone who has undergone a period of impoverished squalor before conforming to the so-called "normal" world.