“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is a quiet film filled with humor, good music, touching moments, and a gorgeous landscape. It opens at the M.V. Film Center on April 25.
Director James Griffiths unfolds his tale on a remote island off the coast of Wales, beginning with a small boat approaching but not quite reaching the shore. The passenger turns out to be the folk singer Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden), one-half of the former folk duo McGwyer-Mortimer. Herb is peeved when he discovers he must wade to shore. His overzealous host, Charles (Tim Key), dressed in high waders, is beside himself with glee at meeting his idol. Things go from bad to worse. Thanks to Charles, not only does Herb get wet coming to shore, his luggage does too, and he is not pleased at all to find that there is no hotel — he will be staying with the overbearing host.
It turns out that Charles, with a dumb joke for every moment, can’t stop talking. “That’s the beauty of this island — the silence,” then continues to jabber a mile a minute. We soon learn that Charles has hired Herb to play a “small” concert. When discussing the gig’s size, Charles tells him it will be fewer than 100. It comes to light that the concert will be a private one for Charles himself. Herb would leave, but for the fact that Charles is a twotime lottery winner, and is paying Herb £500,000 to perform. Herb needs the money to finish his new album.
Charles is relentless with questions about Herb’s professional and romantic breakup with Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan). Charles also makes it clear that he much prefers the duo’s music to Herb’s current solo work. Herb will have none of the nostalgia, which becomes a rather big problem. It turns out that when the next boat arrives, it is bearing Nell … and her now rather cheery husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen).
Herb is touchy, but Nell is “groovy” cool. Charles laps up his time with the two, and can’t help but insert himself into virtually every moment, particularly when he shouldn’t. He is around as the tensions come and go between the two musicians. They harmonize gloriously, every bit in sync with how they sound on Charles’ albums of their past. However, the two can crash against one another when it comes to memories of how their split happened, and what they want moving forward.
Charles’ character deepens when it becomes clear his yearning for the two to become an item again is tied to his sweet memories of his dearly departed wife. The plot turns when both Herb and Nell encourage Charles to come out of his shell and pursue the appealing local shopkeeper Amanda (Sian Clifford), who completes the “completely in tune” small cast that forms the film’s seamless ensemble.
It happens that Basden and Key, who also wrote the script, are a longstanding comedy team, and “The Ballad of Wallis Island” expands a short version they made with Griffiths in 2007. The New York Post seems to have said it best about this charming film: “It’s so easy to love, even if love doesn’t come easy for its characters.”
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” opens at the M.V. Film Center on Friday, April 25. For tickets and more information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.
