Film Review of the Week

Comedy

The Ballad Of Wallis Island (12A)

Review: Long-time comedy writing partners Tom Basden and Tim Key channel the warmth and wit of their real-life friendship in the quietly affecting comedy drama The Ballad Of Wallis Island. Expanded from the duo’s award-winning 2007 short film, this crowd-pleasing tale of creative strife and deep-rooted regret directed by James Griffiths was filmed on location along the Welsh coastline. Icelandic cinematographer G Magni Agustsson captures the raw, untamable beauty of locations that play a supporting role in the on-screen trouble and strife.

The humour in Basden and Key’s script is quintessentially British, leaning in heavily to puns, Dad jokes and intentional malapropisms to endear a chatterbox principal character who feels the need to fill the silence of a perfect sunset with his wittering. His sudden excitement translates as an outburst of “Wowzers in your trousers” and when a visitor to the eponymous island tumbles into the sea and despairs they are drenched, the socially awkward protagonist cheerfully responds, “Yes, Dame Judi!” Original songs composed by Basden as the back catalogue of a fictional folk rock duo are sincere in their heartfelt sweetness.

Key’s performance is the emotional linchpin and he is note-perfect shuffling through his character’s grief. The script forcibly sidelines one point of the central love triangle to allow old wounds to heal, which feels contrived and at odds with the freewheeling, spontaneous spirit that washes over the rest of the picture.

Singer-songwriter Herb McGwyer (Basden), one half of disbanded double-act McGwyer Mortimer, desperately needs cash to complete a new solo album so he accepts a six-figure sum to play a private gig for unlikely millionaire Charles (Key) on Wallis Island. Herb arrives alone and quickly deduces that the advertised audience of “less than 100” is in fact… just Charles. The host’s wife Marie died five years ago and was a superfan of McGwyer Mortimer in their heyday so the low-key performance on the beach will be a nostalgic reminder of happier times for Charles.

Unbeknown to Herb, the widower has also invited his former bandmate Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) to the island with her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen) in the hope of a musical reunion. As Herb awkwardly navigates residual feelings for Nell, she encourages Charles to pursue his unspoken attraction to local shopkeeper Amanda (Sian Clifford) and invite her to the gig.

The Ballad Of Wallis Island is an appealing odd throuple comedy that mines humour and tears from our tendency to cling on to fanciful, rose-tinted memories of the past. Basden’s gruffness contrasts pleasingly with Key’s childlike effervescence (“Kathmandu? More like Kathman-did!”) and Mulligan is a delightful foil for them both. The simplicity of the set-up and its unfussy execution are in perfect harmony.

Action

Karate Kid: Legends (12A)

Review: A life-affirming sixth instalment of the Karate Kid franchise takes a bow three months after the TV spin-off Cobra Kai concluded its six-season run, stitching a narrative thread from the 1984 film starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita to the 2010 reboot starring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith to create harmony between the Miyagi and Han schools of karate. In terms of running time, the latest picture is comfortably the shortest instalment in the series and feels it. Character development scrapes the bare minimum as screenwriter Rob Lieber sprints breathlessly between obligatory set pieces including the humiliation of Ben Wang’s athletic protagonist, amusingly described as “the Chinese Peter Parker”, at the hands of a bullying classmate.

Cue the training montages as he chases redemption, life lessons about courage under fire and a grandstand final showdown where the rejuvenated hero prepares to perform a signature fighting move to reclaim his honour. The “wax on, wax off” training methodology of the original has been upgraded to the less snappy ritual of “jacket on, jacket off” but Jonathan Entwistle’s feature directorial debut is openly nostalgic about its roots, opening with a flashback to 1986 Okinawa and a tender scene between the young Macchio and Norita that dovetails sweetly with the present. Karate Kid: Legends adopts a predictable fighting style that punches and dragon kicks with sufficient fury to consistently crowd-please but never truly delight.

Li Fong (Wang) studies kung fu in Beijing under Mr Han (Chan) against the wishes of his doctor mother (Ming-Na Wen). “You practise violence, you get violence in return,” Mrs Fong warns her son, referencing the fatal stabbing of Li’s older brother Bo (Yankei Ge) after a fight tournament. Li froze during the scuffle and that guilt weighs heavily on the teenager. Mrs Fong secures a new position at a hospital in New York and relocates to the Big Apple where Li befriends classmate Mia (Sadie Stanley), whose father Victor (Joshua Jackson) runs the local pizza parlour.

Unfortunately, Mia’s ex-boyfriend Conor (Aramis Knight) is the hot-headed protege of karate sensei O’Shea (Tim Rozon) whose dojo abides by the same Strike First, Strike Hard, No Mercy mantra of the Cobra Kai of old. Conor challenges Li to compete against him in the upcoming 5 Boroughs fight competition with a 50,000 dollar first prize, and Mr Han travels to New York to train Li for the tournament with help from Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) to enrich Li’s combat style with flourishes of the Miyagi school.

Karate Kid: Legends is a solid and satisfying underdog story. Wang, Chan and co-stars confidently execute on-screen fisticuffs conceived by fight choreographer Xiangyang Xu as Lieber’s script flings romance, comedy and tragedy into the juicer. Entwistle’s picture, made to a trusted recipe, goes down smoothly but we’ve tasted these flavours before.

Drama

The Salt Path (12A)

Review: Life is a haphazard journey, interspersed with unexpected diversions. For Raynor Winn and husband Moth, one of these detours was an impromptu trek along the 630-mile South West Coast Path after the couple became homeless. The UK’s longest National Trail snakes around the English shoreline from Minehead to Poole. The Winns’ long-distance odyssey inspired a best-selling memoir entitled The Salt Path in which Raynor reflects, “If we hadn’t done this there’d always have been things we wouldn’t have known, a part of ourselves we wouldn’t have found, resilience we didn’t know we had.”

Award-winning theatre director Marianne Elliott makes her feature film debut with screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s sure-footed adaptation of real-life events, casting Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs as resilient spouses who entrust their fates to Mother Nature. The two leads are convincingly weather-beaten as they relive moments in time along the picturesque route, including an amusing interlude with a well-to-do stranger (James Lance) and his family who mistake Moth for poet Simon Armitage and offer food and home comforts to a supposed celebrity. You can feel Lenkiewicz’s script tugging firmly on heartstrings in more intimate moments as the couple stare enviously at holidaymakers tucking into a plated meal or huddle together for warmth inside their tent as rain lashes the fluttering canvas.

Raynor (Anderson) and Moth (Isaacs) are devastated to lose their Welsh farmhouse after an ill-advised business investment recommended by a friend. Everything they have worked hard to build is seized and the Winns have a matter of days to grab precious keepsakes and vacate the property before bailiffs arrive. During the upheaval, Moth is diagnosed with a rare neurodegenerative disorder, corticobasal degeneration, which will lead to impaired movement and cognitive functions. Life expectancy is 5-10 years from the onset of symptoms.

The Winns safely relocate their children Rowan (Rebecca Ineson) and Tom (Tucker St Ivany) and contemplate their next steps while they take literal steps along the South West Coast Path. “Shall we?” asks Raynor. “Got nothing better to do,” playfully responds Moth. The couple pitch a two-person tent each night along the route and live off £40 in weekly benefits paid into their bank account. For part of the hike, they also acquire a travelling companion named Sealy (Gwen Currant). Mother Nature isn’t the most reliable friend so the couple gladly accept the kindness of strangers and their friend Polly (Hermione Norris).

The Salt Path follows a predictable route, signposted with obligatory setbacks that test the couple’s resolve in the shadow of Moth’s illness. Gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Helene Louvart allows us to appreciate the wild splendour of Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. Anderson and Isaacs are amiable travelling companions for two hours.