The Ballad of Wallis Island
In James Griffiths’ touching, unusual comedy-drama, a very rich folk fan tricks his favourite singer to perform on his island.
Folk dance: Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan.
Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Charles Heath (Tim Key) lives on his own on the remote Wallis Island, off the coast of Wales. Having won the Lottery, he decides to buy what means the most to him: to pay for his two favourite singers to come to Wallis Island to play one final concert together, on his beach. Offering Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) £500,000, he puts the latter up at his large isolated house for a few days before the gig, having misled McGwyer every step of the way. McGwyer has no idea that he is only playing to an audience of one, nor that his former partner (Carey Mulligan) is joining them on the island…
It's a simple but stirring premise and could so easily have drowned in sentimentality or perhaps something more absurd. As it happens, under the direction of James Griffiths, Tim Key and Tom Basden play their roles completely straight, allowing the comedy to find its own natural level. There is an air of Local Hero about the piece, adapted from the screenwriters’ award-winning short The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island (2007), if on a somewhat smaller scale. There is a shop on the island, with its own telephone box, although its owner Amanda (Sian Clifford) has little knowledge of her customers’ needs, in spite of her best efforts. For Charles, though, it is an Aladdin’s Cave.
Being a solitary fellow, Charles cannot stop talking – or resist a pun – and is driving McGwyer nuts, even before he discovers Charles’s terrible plan. But Charles is actually a rather sweet, accommodating figure who revels in his wordplay and boasting about the legend who is staying under his roof. McGwyer, meanwhile, is miserable, all the more so when his mobile is made inoperable after an unforeseen plunge in the sea. To offset this awkwardness is the arrival of McGwyer’s former professional and romantic partner Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan on terrific form), who is to take part in the gig.
What makes The Ballad of Wallis Island so endearing is that Charles, McGwyer, Nell and Amanda come off as real, fallible people, albeit united by a love of music, even if Amanda hasn’t heard of Charles’s beloved folk duo. While Charles trots out the worst puns in Christendom, McGwyer manages to deliver one of the funniest lines of the year: “Saying my own name isn’t name dropping.” It’s a thoroughly beguiling, touching, charming and unexpected pleasure, as resonant as one’s favourite folk ballad.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Tom Basden, Tim Key, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Sian Clifford, Carey Mulligan.
Dir James Griffiths, Pro Rupert Majendie, Ex Pro Carey Mulligan, Screenplay Tom Basden and Tim Key, Ph G. Magni Ágústsson, Pro Des Alexandra Toomey, Ed Quin Williams, Music Adem Ilhan, Costumes Gabriela Yiaxis, Sound Martin Schulz.
Focus Features/Baby Cow Films-Universal Pictures.
99 mins. UK. 2024. US Rel: 18 April 2025. UK Rel: 30 May 2025. Cert. 12A.
