Tom Basden, Tim Key, Carey Mulligan
“THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND” My rating: B (Peacock)
99 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13
Like the character who sets its plot in motion, “The Ballad of Wallis Island” is sorta irritating at first but eventually pulls us in.
This individual in question is Charlie Heath (Tim Key), a burly, bearded denizen of Wallis, one of the more remote of the British Isles. Having come unexpectedly into a small fortune (we will learn that he has won the national lottery not once, but TWICE), Charlie has decided to spend a big chunk of it on a concert by his favorite musician.
That would be Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden), whom we meet bobbing miserably in the tiny boat that is Wallis Island’s principal link to the mainland. Herb has been lured to the scenic but underpopulated isle by Charlie’s offer of 500,00 pounds for an hour-long concert.
He needs the money. Herb used to be part of a moderately successful he/she folk duo, but that relationship went south a decade earlier. Ever since Herb has been trying to get back his musical mojo. Currently he’s recording a rock album, and he desperately needs Charlie’s payday to cover expenses.
A bit of a sourpuss on even a good day, Herb is alarmed to learn that Charlie — a fanboy given to incredibly corny or inappropriate exclamations (”Wowzer in the trousers!”) — will be the the sole member of the audience.
There’s no hotel on the island, so Herb must stay at Charlie’s quaint but slightly-gone-to-seed mansion. Which means that there’s no escape from his host’s geeky adulation.
“Ballad…” only really kicks into gear with the arrival of Herb’s old singing partner and one-time paramour Nell (Carey Mulligan), who’s no longer playing professionally and, like Herb, needs the money. Charlie has booked her without consulting Herb.
Tensions mount.
There’s a sort of “Local Hero” vibe wafting around this effort (the screenplay is by stars Key and Basden, the direction by James Griffiths, all of whom collaborated on a “Willis Island” short film a few years back). The movie thrives on low-keyed, character-driven fish-out-of-water humor, but it’s also an affecting meditation on loss (Charlie reveals that Herb and Nell were the favorite recording artists of his late wife).
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself gulping back a few tears.
There’s not a ton of music in the film, but the few songs performed by Basden and Mulligan (all written by Basden) nail the same guy-girl sweet spot that made “Once” so memorable.
So…charming.
Simon Baker
“LIMBO” My rating: B (Amazon Prime)
108 minutes | No MPAA rating
As a minimalist mystery about a crime that will never be solved, the Australia-lensed “Limbo” starts out deep in the hole when it comes to attracting a mainstream audience.
Toss in a subplot about the casual abuse of Australia’s aboriginal population, stark black-and-white cinematography, and the usually-hunky Simon Baker looking like something the cat dragged in, and you’ve got a film that will appeal mostly to hardcore cineastes.
Which is OK with me.
“Limbo” (written and directed by Ivan Sen) got under my skin and refused to be shaken off.
A good chunk of that has to do with the astonishingly beautiful cinematography (director Sen was his own d.p.). The film’s widescreen format and lack of color are just about the perfect way to capture an outback burg so windblown and pocked with ugly craters (the area used to be a center for opal mining) that it really does seem like the waiting room to hell.
Our hero — no, not hero. Our protagonist is Travis Hurley, a big-city cop assigned to look into a very cold case, the two-decades-old disappearance of a young aborigine woman.
Travis isn’t exactly your gung-ho cop. Initially he seems only to be going through the motions.
Even fans of TV’s “The Mentalist” will require a reel or two to wrap themselves around Baker’s transformation here. Sporting a buzz cut and month-old beard, his eyes shaded by aviator glasses and his arms covered in tattoos (the result, one surmises, of an undercover stint with the drug squad that left him addicted to heroin), Travis is Simon Baker as we’ve never seen him.
He starts asking questions but gets few answers. The local cops have a history of racism and the aboriginal community doesn’t trust lawmen. Eventually the missing girl’s now-grown brother (Rob Collins) and sister (Natasha Wanganeen) provide a bit of insight, but not enough for an arrest.
Everyone has heard the old saw that it’s not the destination but rather the journey that matters. That’s certainly the case with “Limbo,” which I found weirdly compelling despite its lack of resolution.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 