The Ballad of Wallis Island is a 2025 British comedy film directed by James Griffiths, produced by Rupert Majendie, and starring Tim Key, Tom Basden, and Carey Mulligan. Basden and Key co-wrote the script.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2025, followed by a limited theatrical release in the United States on March 28, 2025, by Focus Features.
Synopsis
An eccentric and awkward millionaire hires a musician to perform on his remote island, without telling him that the concert is only for himself, and that he's also hired the musician's former musical partner and lover.
Cast
- Tim Key as Charles
- Tom Basden as Herb McGwyer
- Sian Clifford as Amanda
- Akemnji Ndifornyen as Michael
- Carey Mulligan as Nell Mortimer
Production
The project began as a short film Key and Basden made with James Griffiths and produced by Moxie Pictures. The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island won best short film at The Edinburgh International Film Festival and was nominated for the 2008 BAFTA Award for Best Short Film.
The feature film, initially entitled One For the Money, had Rupert Majendie as producer with Bankside Films representing sales. Focus Features subsequently acquired worldwide rights to the project, which was later retitled The Ballad of Wallis Island, with Universal Pictures handling the international release on its behalf.
Principal photography was scheduled for Wales in 2023.
Release
The Ballad of Wallis Island premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2025, followed by a limited theatrical release in the United States on March 28, 2025.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 59 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Ballad of Wallis Island hums along a sweet melody without lapsing into outright sentimentality, mining a great deal of warmth from its humble premise." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Robert Daniels of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars and wrote, "The director James Griffith's The Ballad of Wallis Island is a sublime, adorable comedy whose roots can be traced to a short Griffith made eighteen years ago." Critic Bob Mondello reviewed the film favourably, writing for NPR that it is "at once an odd-couple bromance, a quite respectable musical outing, and a nostalgic look at the memories we all lock up in the harmonies in our heads – the ones we carry with us through life."
References
External links
- The Ballad of Wallis Island at IMDb
