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The Ballad of Wallis Island


Tim Key adds value to every film or TV show he appears in but here he has found his perfect role. Of course, it helps if you write the thing yourself (with help from co-star, Tom Basden). Key plays Charles, a slightly buffoonish, slightly clever 'lord of the manor' type who has invited Basden's Herb to his lightly-populated island to play a gig. Herb was part of a reasonably successful folk duo in years past but is now solo, and experimenting with genres (As another character queries, "Is 'commercial' a genre?").

Charles has the means to pay handsomely for this intimate concert but Herb isn't aware just how intimate it promises to be. Nor is he aware that Charles has also invited the other half of McGwyer/Mortimer, Nell, to the island, in order to reunite after nearly 10 years. Nell is played by Carey Mulligan, another casting triumph. She's always great but is really natural and confident here, with a fine singing voice (also heard in Inside Llewyn Davis). Alongside Basden, the least flashy role, and Sian Clifford (from Fleabag) as island shopkeeper, Amanda, this is the most astutely cast film of the year, possibly for many years. 


The Ballad of Wallis Island is a character piece, sure, but the story, as mild as it is, also has some depth to it. It's about loneliness, grief and redemption (of a sort). Charles's bluff and bluster hides his immense sadness at losing Marie, the woman with whom he shared his total love of McGwyer/Mortimer. The islands itself is a crystal clear metaphor for detachment from society and the fact that Charles has a tennis court but hasn't returned a serve for six years is a bittersweet comic moment.


Key and Basden wrote this as a short in 2007, also directed by this film's director, James Griffiths, and it did some good business at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. It's called The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. I chased this up on YouTube and you can see the germs of a fine film there, though it needed some extending to make it feature length. The addition of the two female characters adds impetus and fleshes out the story, and the marginalisation of Nell's husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen) seems just about right.


If anything is slightly off, it's that Mulligan is sidelined too early, it might even be said that she exists in the film only to act as a spur for Herb to complete his redemption arc, from grumpy, self-important twat to someone who has rediscovered his purpose, and is less of a wanker to boot. He's the focus but Charles, with his reasoning behind the concert and his barely concealed sorrow, is the real star.

The Ballad of Wallis Island opens in Perth at the Luna (and Palace cinemas elsewhere in Australia) on Aug 28th.

See also:

It's not a film but the YouTube 'quiz' show, No More Jockeys (2020 onwards), devised by Key, Mark Watson and Alex Horne is a chaotic cracker. And there are vague similarities between Wallis Island and Inisherin Island (from the excellent The Banshees of Inisherin (2022), directed by Martin McDonagh).

SPOILERS IN POD!!
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