The Ballad of Wallis Island: A Heartwarming British Comedy About Music and Memory

Eighteen years in the making – that's how long it took Tom Basden and Tim Key to expand their 2007 short into The Ballad of Wallis Island, and every one of those years shows in the richness of this deceptively simple tale. What could have been a twee British comedy about a superfan and his favorite folk duo becomes something far more profound – a meditation on nostalgia, artistic compromise, and the healing power of genuine human connection.

Carey Mulligan is luminous as Nell Mortimer, one half of the disbanded folk duo McGwyer Mortimer, who arrives on a remote Welsh island to perform for Charles (Tim Key), an eccentric lottery winner who's blown his fortune traveling the world with his late wife. Tom Basden plays her former partner Herb McGwyer, now struggling with a failing solo career, and the tension between them crackles with the weight of unspoken history.

Director James Griffiths shot the entire film in 18 days, but you'd never know it from the meticulous craft on display. Every frame feels carefully composed, from the windswept Welsh coastlines to Charles's mansion stuffed with McGwyer Mortimer memorabilia (including a hilariously fake lock of Nell's hair). The film has that distinctly British sensibility where awkwardness and profundity sit side by side, where a joke about being "Dame Judi Drenched" can exist in the same scene as genuine emotional revelation.

What makes this work is how the film refuses to judge any of its characters. Charles could have been a pathetic figure, but Key invests him with such warmth and genuine love for the music that you understand why these cynical artists are moved by him. When he watches them rehearse their old songs, tears streaming down his face, it's both funny and heartbreaking.

The music, all original songs by Basden, feels lived-in and authentic – you believe these two were once a beloved folk act. And when the film reaches its bittersweet conclusion, with Chris (no longer Herb) recording "The Ballad of Wallis Island," you realize you've witnessed something special: a film about letting go that knows how to hold on to what matters. The was one of the best films at Sundance this year.