Movie of the Week
The Ballad of Wallis Island
August 23, 2025
“The film bewitches you with its seemingly spontaneous humor, a cadre of original soulful folk tunes, and its adoration of the breathtaking surroundings.”
~ Review of The Ballad of Wallis Island
Movie of the Week
The Ballad of Wallis Island
The Ballad of Wallis Island is an enjoyable movie about music, friendship, love, and community. The movie is a feature-length version of a short that British director James Griffiths made almost two decades ago.
The premise is that a two-time (!) lottery winner who lives alone on a remote Welsh island wants to get his favorite musical duo back together. When the two estranged bandmates accept his invitation to play a generously paid private show on the island, the story unfolds.
In a Guardian review of this “funny but also melancholy piece of work,” the enchanted reviewer observes that The Ballad of Wallis Island is “more interested in maintaining a consistent and sincere emotional connection than in wild virtuoso showboating.” It’s worth persisting through the movie’s slow start to enjoy the full arc of the story.
Links
The Ballad of Wallis Island (Wikipedia)
The Ballad of Wallis Island (RogerEbert.com)
The Ballad of Wallis Island review – funny, melancholy yarn of a folk duo reunited by oddball superfan (The Guardian)
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