There are movies, and there are musicals. There are even movie musicals. But the musical movie is something else entirely.
These are films where the narrative itself is music-based. Films about a fictional band or a struggling songwriter or a an album release—and the filmmaker doing them best right now is John Carney (Begin Again, Sing Street, Flora and Son). Others have tried, to varying results. Danny Boyle's Yesterday comes to mind, though the examples are countless: Juliet, Naked based on a Nick Hornby novel; Danielle Macdonald in Falling for Figaro; even Damien Chazelle's Whiplash (though to be clear, La La Land would be a movie musical for those keeping track at home).
A new entry to the genre arrives in theaters this week, The Ballad of Wallis Island, a charmer that leans as much on its musical chops as it does its comic ones. Co-written by co-stars Tom Basden and Tim Key, Ballad is directed by James Griffiths, an episodic director who does a fine job with solid material and a winsome cast that features Carey Mulligan as its crown jewel. Comedy partners from way back, Basden and Key developed the feature film from a short they also co-wrote; the film features original songs written by Basden.
The film succeeds thanks to this marriage of comedy and music; the team infuses the film with plenty of heart as well, but this is not a film that will leave one feeling all warm and fuzzy inside with some late-in-the-third-act fairy tale resolution (though I was certainly hoping for it). Instead, the comedy carries this oddball story of a peculiar millionaire and his favorite band where its interpersonal relationships don't quite go the distance.
Key is Charles Heath, a chatty and charming newly minted millionaire (how he came into money is one of the film's funny reveals) who's cast off the stress of the world at large to set up a home on Wallis Island, a remote British island accessible only by rowboat (there isn't even a dock). He lives a solitary life in a big house and has decided to use some of his buckets of money to reunite his favorite band, the fictional folk duo McGwyer Mortimer. They are Herb McGwyer (Basden) and Nell Mortimer (Mulligan), one-time lovers and music-makers who are since estranged, leaving superfans like Charles to pine away for what used to be with just the albums and memorabilia he's accumulated over the years.
The hiccup is that Charles fails to mention to the crotchety McGwyer, who thinks he's doing a special solo show, that Mortimer (and her new husband, Michael, played by Akemnji Ndifornyen) is also joining them on the island for the gig. The bulk of the film becomes about the duo's forced reunion, tension deflated again and again by Charles' cheesy puns and occasional ability to get them to take a few bricks out of the wall they've built up between them. The script finds clever ways to make our time on the island not feel quite so isolated, including featuring a kind shop owner in Amanda (Sian Clifford, Fleabag) who relatively predictably becomes a love interest for Charles, and a subplot for Michael the birdwatcher that takes him away for long enough to let Nell and Herb reconnect, just the two of them.
The Ballad of Wallis Island possesses the kind of heart not often seen in films these days. There are stakes for everyone involved, but there is no deep, dark trauma scarring the proceedings. The setting is lush and unique, and the filmmakers give us plenty of time outdoors to enjoy it. With a lighthearted approach, each of the three main characters goes on a journey of discovery and change. It's a quibble, but the formula wears slightly thin by the third act where I found myself wishing for something slightly bigger and grander to happen, for the music to swell and the stars to align.
But that's just what happens in the movies, not in real life. And though The Ballad of Wallis Island starts from a slightly silly conceit, what it's going for is real human emotion, real interpersonal connection. When the grand gestures and happily-ever-after don't arrive, it's not a shortcoming or a ding against the film. It's the filmmakers marrying the fictional and the real much the same way they do the comedy and the music.
The Ballad of Wallis Island is now in theaters.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider supporting Third Coast Review’s arts and culture coverage by making a donation. Choose the amount that works best for you, and know it goes directly to support our writers and contributors.