The Ballad of Wallis Island review – funny, melancholy yarn of a folk duo reunited by oddball superfan
Fictional folk duo McGwyer Mortimer (played by Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan) were big, back in the day – the day in question being circa 2009. But they weren't that big: not Dylan-big, not even Cat Stevens-big. They graced some NME covers, they played Glastonbury, but even at the height of their success they could definitely pop to the shops without getting mobbed. Still, you're always Dylan-big to your biggest fans, and Charles (Tim Key) is exactly that. He's also a reclusive lottery winner, giving him the motive and the means to stage a private reunion gig for an audience of one on a remote island.
Basden and Key starring in a film about a folk band reunion might have you expecting something a little bit sketch comedy, but this turns out to be a different beast: a funny but also melancholy piece of work. It's more interested in maintaining a consistent and sincere emotional connection than in wild virtuoso showboating.
As superfan Charles, Key blends a bit of the pleasant oddness he always brings to his acting roles with the verbal playfulness familiar to admirers of his poetry. Charles has a galloping case of verbal diarrhoea; like a perpetual talk radio DJ, he overflows with continual jokey non-jokes – 'Houston, we have chutney, and it's not a problem' – and is seemingly petrified of the possibility of leaving dead air.
Basden does excellent work as a character, in contrast, whose face does the talking: a spiky presence, all low cut T-shirts, wounded ego and rounded shoulders. It's a perfect performance both as an actor and, when the songs come along, as a musician. Basden wrote the music here and it is played and sung completely straight; it's all rather beautiful. And while she might be a bigger name, Mulligan has a lot less to do than either of them: she is entirely plausible as a woman who was once part of the duo and now makes jam in Portland with her geek-chic birdwatching husband. You'll leave wanting your own island, your own gig and your own lock of Carey Mulligan's hair.
The Ballad of Wallis Island is in UK cinemas from 30 May
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