BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND, THE
(director: James Griffiths; screenwriters: Tom Basden, Tim Key; cinematographer: G. Magni Agustsson; editor: Quin Williams; music: Adem Ilhan; cast: Tim Key (Charles), Tom Basden (Herb McGwyer), Carey Mulligan (Nell Mortimer), Akemnji Ndifornyen (Michael), Sian Clifford (Amanda), Steve Marsh (Pete), Luka Downie (Marcus), Kerrie Thomason (Marie); Runtime: 100; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Steve Coogan, Rupert Majendie; Focus Features; 2025)
“A breezy film that rescues a ridiculous premise with some unexpected heart-warming moments.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Director James Griffiths (“Cuban Fury”) and writers Tom Basden and Tim Key, also star in this offbeat bittersweet comical story about a trio that reunite on the remote fictional British Wallis Island.
The lonely widower is a socially awkward, eccentric millionaire Charles Heath (Tim Key). He’s a lottery winner who invites for a private musical one-night-only performance on the secluded and sparsely populated Welsh Island of Wallis Island, where he resides, the jaded, middle-aged folk-rock musician Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) and his ex-girlfriend and ex-band mate Nell (Carey Mulligan) along with her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen). Charles is to pay his idol a fee of £500,000, money the performer desperately needs. Herb’s group was popular in the 2010s, but he went solo when dumped.
The guests are housed in Charles’s mansion, which is disguised as a hotel.
A motorboat service is the only way of entering the island, which has no dock. There are no modern services available like WiFi. The friendly shopkeeper (Sian Clifford) has her hands full trying to satisfy the island’s grumpy new arrivals, who find the place antiquated and uncomfortable.
The indie comedy shows that music alone can’t repair a broken heart, as the host misses his wife Marie (Kerrie Thomason). She died five years ago, and the rich boy seems lost without her love.
It turns into a breezy film that rescues a ridiculous premise with some unexpected heart-warming moments, featuring a story that takes its own sweet time to develop, as the dazed characters try to learn to live in the moment.
It played at the SXSW Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 4/2/2025 GRADE: B
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