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.
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Action
Karate Kid: Legends (12A)
Review: Just over 40 years after Mr Miyagi shared the secrets of his “wax on, wax off” philosophy, the latest instalment of The Karate Kid franchise directed by Jonathan Entwistle high kicks into cinemas. Kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Ben Wang) relocates to New York City with his mother (Ming-Na Wen) and immediately makes a new friend, classmate Mia (Sadie Stanley). Local karate champion Connor Day (Aramis Knight) picks a fight with Li and humiliates him in front of the school.
Li turns to his mentor, kung fu teacher Mr Han (Jackie Chan), for advice. The mentor seeks out Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and persuades the original Karate Kid to travel to the Big Apple to teach Li the ways of Miyagi Karate. Supported by Mr Han, Mia and her father Victor (Joshua Jackson), Li nervously prepares for the biggest fight of his life.
Reviews of Karate Kid: Legends are embargoed until Wednesday afternoon. Check back later in the week for our full review.
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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.
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