US Edition‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ Review: A Minor Chord Comedy That Works
- In 'The Ballad of Wallis Island,' Charles, played by Tim Key, a kind and chatty semi-recluse who holed himself up in his home after a lottery win, invites his favorite folk band, McGwyer Mortimer, to play a concert on the remote and serene Wallis Island, a location without a dock, car, or hotel.
- The reunion concert on Wallis Island is based on a short film made 18 years ago by Basden, Key, and James Griffiths, and it presents terrible news for Herb McGwyer, played by Basden, as it forces a reunion with his former bandmate and ex-lover, Nell Mortimer, played by Mulligan.
- Herb, now a solo artist, arrives on Wallis Island aggrieved, especially after his phone is water damaged, and he discovers that the general store, owned by Sian Clifford, does not carry rice to dry it out, and with unreliable ferry times disclaimed as 'sometimes,' he has no escape plan and is stuck as Charles' houseguest.
- Nell, Herb's ex, arrives with her new husband Michael, played by Akemnji Ndifornyen, and while she needs the money from the reunion gig, she has moved on with her life and is now making chutney in the Pacific Northwest.
- The Ballad of Wallis Island, a Focus Features release rated PG-13, is in theaters Friday and is unlikely to dominate cultural conversations or win awards, but it is an easy recommendation that may touch your soul, with Mulligan and Basden exuding the awkward chemistry of artist exes.
34 Articles
34 Articles
‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ Review: A Minor Chord Comedy That Works
A carefully considered mix of humor and melancholy glows in the fragile sunshine that bathes an isolated Welsh coastline in The Ballad of Wallis Island, a wan yet affecting consideration of lost love, forgotten bands and the odd ways those entities manifest themselves in our hearts and on our turntables. Designed as showcase for the minor chord comedy of its writers and stars Tom Basden and Tim Key, the film tells the story of an unlikely reunio…
MyCentralOregon.com
'The Ballad of Wallis Island' stars on their new film, working with Carey Mulligan
Alistair Heap/Focus Features A lottery winner reunites his favorite band in the new film The Ballad of Wallis Island. Longtime collaborators Tim Key and Tom Basden star in the movie, which arrives in select theaters on Friday. Key plays Charles, the world’s biggest fan of the fictional former folk-rock duo McGwyer Mortimer. Basden is Herb McGwyer, a musician who is surprised to find out he’s been brought out to a remote location to play a concer…
Review: 'The Ballad of Wallis Island' is a crowd-pleasing folk-music comedy worth crowing about
British comedian Tim Key plays a millionaire fanboy who commands his favorite band to put on a private show, even though its singers Tom Basdan and Carey Mulligan have split
‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ is the loveliest movie of the year (so far)
It’s never a bad time for a film like “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” but at the moment it feels like a much-needed balm. Modest in scope and made with the lightest of touch, not unlike the lovely folk songs that populate its soundtrack, it’s also deceptively powerful: A gentle ode to moving on, in quirky packaging.
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