Eccentric millionaire Charles (Tim Key) dreams of reuniting his favourite folk-rock duo, McGwyer and Mortimer, so he invites the estranged bandmates and former lovers, Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) and Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan), unbeknownst to each other, to perform a private concert at his home on the remote (and fictional) Wallis Island. Problems arise, needless to say, the most immediate being Nell has arrived with her husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen); the old musical magic might still be there, but so are the issues that broke the duo apart. Deftly switching between humour and pathos, James Griffiths’s delightful romantic comedy, which calls to mind Ealing Studios and Bill Forsyth’s beloved Local Hero (1983), is a thoroughly disarming, big-hearted crowd-pleaser with personality to spare. The Ballad of Wallis Island might very well be the film we need right now.

Notes by David O’Mahony.