The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025) - 10/10

Charles (Tim Key) lives on the remote Wallis Island. He’s quirky, like a lot of Key’s characters, but his overriding quirk is his passion for the folk music duo McGwyer & Mortimer. The McGwyer being Herb (Tom Basden), who Charles has booked to come and play a private gig for half a million pounds, which turns out to be in cash. You see Charles is, despite appearances, rather rich. Their meeting is an exercise is painfully funny awkwardness. All of which is felt by Herb as he realises he’s also staying at Charles’ house, none it seems realised by Charles, who is trying his best, but just isn’t used to the social norms of having company. So what about Mortimer, Nell (Carey Mulligan). Well McGwyer & Mortimer were a couple as well as musical partners, but that was 10 years ago. Things have moved on, for Nell at least. She’s now married to Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), we find out as Charles has also invited them to the island, much to the shock of Herb! Is Charles’ surprise reunion a good idea, a harmless folly, a recipe for some tantalising tension, an opportunity for awakening, or just an emotional tribute to true love. It has to be said that everyone is brilliant, that word sometimes gets used lightly, but you can use all the superlatives here. These characters are wonderfully watchable, lovable, entertaining. Key and Basden do pull focus, but everyone works so effortlessly together, I could watch them for hours, 90 minutes almost feels cruelly short. It’s sweet and tender, but not afraid to dig into some complex emotions. Above all it’s delightfully funny, perfectly paced, deceptively layered, particularly in the case of shopkeeper Amanda (Sian Clifford) who delicately steals every scene she’s in. The chemistry oozes from the screen. It all looks great, filmed largely in Wales, it’s simply beautiful. “It’s the bees bollocks, fantastic” as Charles puts it. It’s a wonderful film, full of joy, pain, understated magnificence.

10/10