“The Ballad of Wallis Island” (2025) exists in a world where a legendary folk duo, McGwyer Mortimer, broke up. Their number one fan, Charles Heath (Tim Key), who lives on the titular island, reunites them under false pretenses for a private concert. Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) has a commercial solo career, is horrified at the accommodations and has not seen Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) in nine years. Nell arrives with her bird watching, American husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), in tow. The gig does not go as planned as they each discover that you cannot recapture the past and must determine how they want to move forward.
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is not a rom com though it is a dramedy with music. The real protagonist is Herb, who is like the audience, a fish out of water trying to get his bearings and figure out if he has a stalker or the easiest gig ever. The movie is a quiet battle for his soul. Herb has notions of being an artist, but when he describes his latest work, even he cannot quite stick the landing in convincing himself that he is someone to be taken seriously. Credit where it is due: Herb would not start a cult and buy his own hype as the rock star did in “Opus” (2025). He has conflated the trappings of fame with integrity and is a sourpuss for the first act. He brightens once Nell arrives.
Nell is down-to-earth, makes jam and has settled into life post fame. She wants the music without the man. Turns out that music and love are intertwined, which is why Charles loves McGwyer Mortimer. He associates them with Marie (Kerrie Thomason), his wife, and is trying to recapture some of his best memories. Charles becomes a living breathing Rorschach test for Herb and Nell as barometers to gauge how present they are under these circumstances. Herb is annoyed at Charles’ incessant need to fill the silence, joke around and gawk at him. Nell takes it in stride, treats him like a friend, but also pauses to indicate when an action is too close to crossing the line. Michael seems most delighted with Charles and the island. He leaves Nell with two men while he goes touring the island. (Would the average woman want to be left alone with her ex and a stranger and be fine with her husband leaving her alone? No, but it is a movie, and the whole premise is fantastical so let’s just chalk it up to the whimsy and men writing.)
The second act is the most delightful and is probably the part that most moviegoers are expecting if they are interested in “The Ballad of Wallis Island.” If the opinion of a non-musician who is not into folk music matters, the music is pleasant, and it may make an ideal double screening with “A Complete Unknown” (2024). Herb and Nell practically glow with discovering that the spark of genius is still there. Charles is so close to achieving everything that he dreamed of in his perfect slice of heaven house, which anyone would be thrilled to live in.
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is not that kind of movie. Self-fulfillment cannot be found in the past even if it is tied to love. Out of all three characters, Nell seems to get the raw deal. In addition to starring in the film, Basden and Key cowrote the screenplay, and they nail all the casual ways in which women artists get separated from genius in terms of accolades, money and career. Her time on Wallis Island feels as if it is her last chance to bask in the past before fading back into obscurity while Herb and Charles may not get what they want but get what they need.
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is an odd couple movie with Herb and Charles having an unlikely friendship that brings out parts of them that were dormant and seemed extinguished but gets resurrected. The feature is an adaptation of a twenty-six-minute short film, “The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island” (2007), which the same cowriters and director James Griffiths also made. At times, the narrative’s expansion strains at the seams and makes it drag a little bit, but it nails the mixed emotions of grief over different types of loss and the thrill of rediscovering an old feeling in a new way.
Otherwise, the transition from short to feature works, and it ages like a fine wine. The new location feels more organic, and the island is gorgeous. The rocks along the coast echoed “Good One” (2024) in the way that they symbolize the eternal, unchanging side of nature with the stacks reflecting the specter of people passing through. The short’s lighting is too bright, but Griffiths captures the island’s tempestuous beauty with tons of soaring overhead shots, letting the camera be still while it drinks in the horizon allowing the characters to move through it and out of the frame. The original mainly features the two actors whereas the feature defines the characters beyond their music and make them somewhat tragic, redemptive figures. Instead of a private island, Wallis transforms into a sparsely populated one, but most of the locals are just part of the scenery acting like extras in the background with the exception of Amanda (Sian Clifford), a single mother and shopkeeper who is sparsely stocked and is unfamiliar with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and *checks notes* rice, which feels like the least believable part of “The Ballad of Wallis Island.” Everyone wears cheerful sweaters. No remake of “The Wicker Man” (1973) here! If anyone in the film had a hint of straying from safeness, this movie would not work.
This iteration of the story is less general in skewering the music industry. Herb still comes off as a bit entitled to adoration and people serving him without instructions, so he is often petulant in response to kindness. When “The Ballad of Wallis Island” refers to Herb’s shop talk, the promotional posters and collaborations, it sounds real and ridiculous. The titles of Herb’s solo songs, one is “Work Your Body,” and the collaborators almost sounds like a reference to something in the real word. If the comedy was broader, it could turn into a spoof movie. For example, Charles explains McGwyer Mortimer to Amanda while Herb is present, and unsurprisingly she has no idea who they are. For a second, Charles comes off as one of those guys who has an overinflated self-image, which still would have been hilarious, but would have made Charles into one of those insufferable guys with the niche music taste to show how above the mainstream he is. A similar scene in “Magazine Dreams” (2023) makes the protagonist seem removed from reality, delusional and dangerous.
“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is a testament to the actors/writers and director’s charm. They take red flags then drain the alarm from it to make it feel authentic, quaint and lovely. Even if you are not an aging legend or an affluent islander, the characters are relatable as people stuck in the past who need the other to give them a gentle nudge into the next phase of life and authentic pleasure.
