The Ballad Of Wallis Island – Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 40 minutes, Director – James Griffiths

Folk musician Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) arrives on a secluded island to perform an intimate gig, only to discover it’s to one person (Tim Key) and alongside his former musical and romantic partner (Carey Mulligan).

There’s an unassuming nature to The Ballad Of Wallis Island. The cast and crew are clearly trying to make something great, but in the moment they appear to not know just how great what they’re making is. It adds to the charm and heart that radiates from this gentle British indie which feels at home amongst the Paddingtons of this world.

Perhaps best summarised in the character of Charles Heath. Played by Tim Key with wonderful texture, he’s a buoyant character happy to crack jokes and wordplay at any opportunity, yet there’s a sorrow to him which is brought out as the film goes on and we learn what folk duo McGwyer Mortimer means to him. He’s paid for them both to come to the secluded location of Wallis Island, where he lives, to perform an intimate gig, although unknowing that it’s just to him. on the shorefront.

However, the pair haven’t seen each other for nine years and while Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) has moved on, married (to Akemnji Ndifornyen’s Michael) and now makes a living selling homemade chutney at markets, Herb McGwyer (co-writer, alongside Key, Tom Basden) has struggled to move on. Reluctantly looking at a more commercial route with his solo career, he’s still hung up on the way things ended with Nell, who he was also romantically involved with alongside their musical partnership.

In a film that could so easily go for consistent awkward humour and play up the tension in each situation there’s a calmness to what unfolds. Yes, there are elements of uncertainty for Herb as to how to approach things, and old songs don’t quite seem appropriate for the pair to be singing anymore, but a feeling of friendship begins to form as they spend time on the island with few else around aside from Charles and shopkeeper Amanda (Sian Clifford), who gets an enjoyable running joke about not having heard of anything the musicians ask for.

The humour too could so easily go for awkwardness, and does so once or twice with effect. And while certain behaviours create a shuffling tone in a scene the humour which emits takes a step away from this, while also managing to be consistently funny throughout. Still leaving room for the growing drama which takes unexpected turns in what it’s depicting. Wallis Island acknowledges messy and broken up relationships, how some things are never truly directly resolved, but we can resolve them for ourselves. It does this gently and thoughtfully, and with help from the various folk tracks we hear being played and performed – all written by Basden.

There’s something transportive about each song, no matter how much we hear of them, believably coming from the characters who are singing them. And while conversations and actions play as much of a part in character developments and realisations the music plays just as much of a part, if a quieter one, in doing this. The film is much more about Herb than we may realise and where the narrative takes him, including into the credits, acts as the real core of the film. Although, Charles and Nell both act as catalysts and pushes with their own moments of effective emotion with different degrees of straightforwardness.

Everything we see is portrayed with a great deal of heart. You can see and feel the care that has gone into making this film, and the collaborative effort alongside it. All as things gently move along in a very funny, entertaining fashion with unexpected reveals as to where its course is going amongst the effective emotional beats surrounding different kinds of loss. Thoroughly heartfelt and thoroughly British, this is a real gem I’ll be fondly thinking about and wanting to revisit for quite some time.

A gentle, entertaining and very British gem, The Ballad Of Wallis Island overflows with heart both in its making and final film. An excellent set of performances and songs calmly convey the emotion and quiet sorrow amongst the many funny quips, and all done with heaps of charm and comfort.