Review: ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island,' where the right concert can change your life

Chicago Tribune

02-04-2025

The firm of Forsyth, Carney, Powell and Pressburger likely provided some valuable pro bono counsel to the makers of 'The Ballad of Wallis Island,' a nicely spooned dose of whimsy that goes down quite well.
The names above refer to Bill Forsyth, writer-director of the beguiling 'Local Hero' (1983), among others; John Carney, of 'Once' (2007) and 'Sing Street' (2016); and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, whose ripely seductive masterworks include one of my very favorite films, 'I Know Where I'm Going!' (1945). The mystical power of music floats through these and so many other movies close to our hearts. Add in a remote, romantically idealized coastal or island setting, a la 'Local Hero' or 'I Know Where I'm Going!,' and you're halfway home.
We're never told where the island in 'The Ballad of Wallis Island' is, exactly. (Director James Griffiths shot it in Carmarthenshire, Wales.) Its few residents include Charles, a compulsive punster and wordplay natterer as well as a music devotee, played by co-writer Tim Key.
The music Charles loves is confined, apparently, to one famous folk duo in particular. For a time this duo, McGwyer Mortimer — simpatico enough, musically and otherwise, to forego an ampersand — wrote beautiful, soulful songs together. They were big. They were in love. Then they split.
When the film begins, Charles is wading out into the sea to meet the boat carrying the sullen McGwyer, played by co-screenwriter Tom Basden. Charles is rich, having won the lottery not once but twice. After the death of his wife, he has retreated into a cocoon of memories and a chipper sort of sadness. He has hired Herb McGwyer, his musical idol, to come to the island to perform a private concert. And when Herb arrives, he has not been told he'll be joined shortly by the woman who broke his heart, the Mortimer half of the now-defunct duo, played by Carey Mulligan.
Key and Basden expanded their script from a 25-minute short film, also directed by Griffiths, 'The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island.' That short, made 17 years ago, was essentially a double act for the somewhat fallen star and his most ardent fan. The feature-length expansion creates new roles, for the character played by Mulligan; the island's apparent sole shopkeeper Charles likes but is too shy to ask out, played by the 'Fleabag' ringer Sian Clifford; and the smaller, thinner role of Mortimer's increasingly jealous husband (Akemnji Ndifornyen). The spark, you see, hasn't fully extinguished between Mortimer and McGwyer, though 'The Ballad of Wallis Island' has a nagging tendency to misjudge the comic and emotional value of McGwyer's mopey, lovelorn side.
For that matter, Charles is written and portrayed by Key to be an amusingly clueless and frankly exhausting fellow. It's something of a miracle Key garners as many laughs as he does; his timing and delivery works on a wavelength that seems to belong to the tides, or an interior monologue running in Charles' head.
Contrivances come, and go, but 'The Ballad of Wallis Island' rolls along, with just enough casual wit to buoy the story. Things like the tiniest soap bar in existence, greeting the visiting rock star when he takes a bath in his host's house, do their visual-comedy job and make way for the next bit. If you go, and I'm recommending you do, take the time to see the short film afterward. It's fascinating to see the decisions that were made in the expansion. I do wish the lower-key tenor of the interplay in the short had been retained for the feature; it has its aggressively charming side. But I'm guessing that American audiences right about now, subconsciously dreaming of an island escape, will find 'Wallis Island' a handy getaway.
'The Ballad of Wallis Island' — 3 stars (out of 4)