If John Carney allowed the regulars from a Richard Osman-hosted game show to ad-lib through one of his low-key musicals, it might look and sound like The Ballad of Wallis Island.
The director James Griffiths reunites with the writers and players Tom Basden and Tim Key to expand on their acclaimed Bafta-winning short from 2007, a whimsical, poignant comedy about lost love, unlikely lottery wins and obsessive fandom.
Brief former folk sensation Herb McGwyer (Basden) is lured to a remote Welsh island by wealthy superfan Charles (Key), only to discover the lucrative reunion gig he was promised isn’t for him alone. Nell (Carey Mulligan), his ex-partner, both domestic and musical, is also invited for a reunion gig. Worse still, she arrives with her bird-watching new husband (Akemnji Ndifornyen).
The latter quickly departs to the other side of the island for ornithological reasons, leaving Herb and Nell to get reacquainted through their bumbling mediator, Charles.
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Sellout Herb, who has unconvincingly lunged into pop music since the zenith of his folk career, in 2010, is alternately irritated and perplexed by his widowed host. The oblivious Charles, in turn, is haunted by memories of his dead wife and unable to advance his awkward encounters with local shopkeeper Amanda (Sian Clifford).
Nell, disarmed by the odd chemistry between the triumvirate of visitors and musical matchmaker, quickly falls into old harmonies.
A hot ticket at Sundance, The Ballad of Wallis Island has already developed a cult following – and a champion in Four Weddings and a Funeral creator Richard Curtis, who has called it one of the best British films of all time.
It plays in a far quieter register than Curtis’s creations. Melancholic, wry and character-driven, Baden and Key’s script reimagines Bob Dylan and Joan Baez’s mythologised Newport phase as a wet Cambrian miniature with dad jokes.
Mulligan brings heart to Basden’s wistful folk compositions, and Key babbles amiably, as this crowd-pleaser salutes the redemptive power of a singsong.
In cinemas from Friday, May 30th
