The Ballad of Wallis Island

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Recently, I rewatched “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic which should have won the Best Picture Oscar this year. The film chronicled Dylan’s transition from traditional acoustic folk music to a new electrified sound. It put me in the mood for more music-themed movies.

“The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island” came to mind. It won best short at The Edinburgh Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA. This funny little movie told the story of a lottery winner who pays a folk singer half a million pounds to perform for him on his private island. 

The short was so well received that director James Griffiths (“Cuban Fury”) adapted it into a feature-length film with the simplified title, “The Ballad of Wallis Island.”

In this expanded version, we meet Charles (Tim Key), a guy who won the Lottery big time. So he hires his late wife’s favorite British folk duo – McGwyer Mortimer – to perform for “less than one hundred people” on his remote island. Problem is, Herb McGwyer (Tom Basdin) and Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) broke up years ago.

Herb takes the gig, unaware that Nell has been booked also – a surprise reunion. Turns out, Nell is now married, with her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen) in tow.

Tensions flare, of course. Herb’s career has taken a commercial turn. Nell has retired. Herb must face the fact that he’s still in love with Nell. But she is a happy housewife living in Oregon with her American husband. It’s not a happy reunion.

Herb is ready to walk out on the gig, but stays when Michael admits he and Nell need the money.

A devoted fan, our boy Charles has an impressive collection of McGwyer Mortimer mementoes, ranging from one of Herb’s old guitars to a counterfeit lock of Nell’s hair. Nell gives him a real lock.

Charles had intended for the show to memorialize the fifth anniversary of his wife’s death. Does it happen? Go see this bittersweet little movie to find out.

Tim Key says, “Shooting the short with Tom and James was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done, and I’ve been in love with that film ever since. To get the chance to do it all again, and to go deeper is extremely exciting. And to have Carey Mulligan on the island with us is the icing on the cake.”

Scoring an impressive 97 on Rotten Tomatoes, the website says: “ ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ hums along a sweet melody without lapsing into outright sentimentality, mining a great deal of warmth from its humble premise.”

And NPR aptly described it as “a nostalgic look at the memories we all lock up in the harmonies in our heads – the ones we carry with us through life.”
I say, “Those songs we grew up on linger with us forever. What I would have paid to see a Beatles reunion?”

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com