THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND – Review by Sarah Ward
Tim Key, Tom Basden and James Griffiths return to a story that they initially brought to screens 18 years earlier with their BAFTA-nominated 2007 short The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island. The leap to feature length, The Ballad of Wallis Island boasts a pivotal addition: Carey Mulligan. This time, Mulligan plays Nell Mortimer to Basden’s Herb McGwyer. When the latter recorded a solo album, he was on his lonesome stuck both professionally and personally. Nell swapped the melodic life for selling homemade chutney in Portland, Oregon, and traded romance with her bandmate for marriage to Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen. Herb went pop and turned brooding. They both journey to the movie’s remote locale for the money, Nell’s American husband in tow, with Key’s wealthy and eccentric Charles Heath footing the bill.
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