Fictional folk duo McGwyer Mortimer (played by Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan) were big, back in the day – the day in question being circa 2009. But they weren’t that big: not Dylan-big, not even Cat Stevens-big. They graced some NME covers, they played Glastonbury, but even at the height of their success they could definitely pop to the shops without getting mobbed. Still, you’re always Dylan-big to your biggest fans, and Charles (Tim Key) is exactly that. He’s also a reclusive lottery winner, giving him the motive and the means to stage a private reunion gig for an audience of one on a remote island.
Basden and Key starring in a film about a folk band reunion might have you expecting something a little bit sketch comedy, but this turns out to be a different beast: a funny but also melancholy piece of work. It’s more interested in maintaining a consistent and sincere emotional connection than in wild virtuoso showboating.
As superfan Charles, Key blends a bit of the pleasant oddness he always brings to his acting roles with the verbal playfulness familiar to admirers of his poetry. Charles has a galloping case of verbal diarrhoea; like a perpetual talk radio DJ, he overflows with continual jokey non-jokes – “Houston, we have chutney, and it’s not a problem” – and is seemingly petrified of the possibility of leaving dead air.
Basden does excellent work as a character, in contrast, whose face does the talking: a spiky presence, all low cut T-shirts, wounded ego and rounded shoulders. It’s a perfect performance both as an actor and, when the songs come along, as a musician. Basden wrote the music here and it is played and sung completely straight; it’s all rather beautiful. And while she might be a bigger name, Mulligan has a lot less to do than either of them: she is entirely plausible as a woman who was once part of the duo and now makes jam in Portland with her geek-chic birdwatching husband. You’ll leave wanting your own island, your own gig and your own lock of Carey Mulligan’s hair.
• The Ballad of Wallis Island is in UK cinemas from 30 May
