“If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song,” wryly observed Oscar Isaac’s Llewyn Davis. “The Ballad of Wallis Island,” a film that revolves around the reunion of a duo who once operated in that musical genre (albeit with a distinct rock inflection), meets such a definition. Little about this dramedy feels inventive or novel, but it’s startling how little that matters given the way it inspires an ear-to-ear grin from its opening moments.
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Director James Griffiths wastes no time cutting to chase and unveiling his star attraction: Tim Key’s eccentric but endearing Charles Heath. Key co-wrote the film, and it fits him like a glove. He’s a veritable pun factory churning out nonstop hits from his tentative rollout of the moniker “Dame Judi Drenched” to describe Tom Basden’s Herb McGwyer, the gruff musician Charles hires for a gig after he plunges into the water from the small dinghy that marks the only mode of transportation to a remote island. Key’s lovable without making himself laughable – like a beloved teacher whose corniness eventually becomes charming.
In an age where the superrich use their wealth and influence to do some truly nefarious things, it’s a pleasant throwback to see a character an aloof millionaire like Charles who feels like he walked out of a Depression-era comedy. This former nurse who improbably wins the lottery twice just wants to use his winnings to turn back the clock to a time when his favorite band was still together. Unbeknownst to the estranged halves of McGwyer Mortimer, Charles has arranged for both band members to converge on his estate for a private concert.
Herb, the first arrival, makes for somewhat of a curmudgeonly black hole upon his landing. But luckily, Basden (who also co-wrote the screenplay) does not have much time to suck up the energy. The two creative forces behind “The Ballad of Wallis Island” settle into a unique rhythm that never feels like a rote comic man-straight man routine. There’s just enough oddity built into Charles’ character, like Melissa McCarthy’s Megan in “Bridesmaids,” that the film can still find ways to make his latest saying sound surprising. His friends and neighbors, meanwhile, always have a plainspokenness about them that results in many dry comic moments. Yet the film never tips so far into caricature as to make them oblivious.
The fish-out-of-water fun has already begun in “The Ballad of Wallis Island” before Carey Mulligan’s Nell Mortimer, a softer-spoken variation on her spiky “Inside Llewyn Davis” character, arrives on the island. But she, along with her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), brings out Herb’s headstrong ways. Herb’s master plan certainly did not account for their old fissures re-emerging with a vengeance, though they mostly manage to keep it civil in polite company. It’s nothing unfamiliar to anyone even vaguely familiar with the conflicts that tear musicians apart, though Basden and Mulligan bring enough specificity to the struggles that it never feels too boilerplate.
Tensions may flare among the former bandmates, but the overall disposition of “The Ballad of Wallis Island” never changes. They disagree over music and life, but the movie never begins to feel disagreeable as a result. Griffiths keeps a tempo that just feels right for a movie about three people who have each tricked themselves into thinking they are happy enough to get by and could stand to reconnect with the things that bring them true joy. Everyone involved might not get the exact arrangement they imagined, but the outcome is still magical in its own way. (Having genuinely good original music, written by none other than the multihyphenate Basden, certainly helps.)
Despite multiple invocations of a caustic Coen Brothers classic in this review, the director whose work “The Ballad of Wallis Island” most resembles is John Carney. The Irish director of “Once” and “Sing Street” also made a film that was originally titled “Can a Song Save Your Life?” before Harvey Weinstein flattened it into the bland “Begin Again.” But here, Griffiths feels like he’s made a film that could take that title and run with it. This humorous, heartfelt tale about the redemptive power of music also provides an answer to that question. And in this case, it’s a definitive yes. [B+]
