Kichijoji's storied Baus Theater will be closing its doors on June 10, but it is going out with a bang, reviving a bunch of its most popular hits from the past three decades, including "El Topo," "Sid & Nancy," "Picnic" and "Dark Star." The closing spot goes to "Withnail & I," the cult British comedy that originally played at Baus in 1991. (And the remastered print will be playing around Japan's mini-theaters after its run at Baus.)
To draw an easy comparison, “Withnail & I” is Britain’s “The Big Lebowski”: Both deal with male bonding between "losers" who seem utterly removed from respectable society; both have a wicked sense of humor; and both are infinitely quotable and became far more popular as the years went by. Yet while the Coen Brothers' "Lebowski" is ultimately good-natured at its heart — all life's troubles can be banished by the mantra "f-ck it dude, let's go bowling" — "Withnail & I" has poison in its veins, with an ending that is far less forgiving of its characters' excesses.
The story follows two unemployed and near-penniless actors — Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and the "I" played by Paul McGann — in London's Camden Town in 1969, going stir crazy in their frigid flat as they binge on alcohol, methamphetamine and, umm, lighter fluid. Deciding a whiff of country air might do them good, Withnail convinces his posh Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) to loan them his cottage, only to find an even worse time awaits them there, with menacing locals and a surprise visit from dear old Monty, who proves to be a relentlessly predatory queen.
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