Eccentric lottery winner Charles Heath (Tim Key) is the world’s biggest fan of disbanded folk duo McGwyer (Tom Basden) and Mortimer (Carey Mulligan) and decides to try and make his dreams come true by hiring them for a reunion gig on the remote island he calls home. In order to make it happen he neglects to tell McGwyer that he has also invited Mortimer.

The Ballad Of Wallis Island is an absolutely delightful slice of British humour. But it also swings a lot of emotional heft as it explores lost love and coming to terms with where life has led you.

It opens with McGwyer arriving at Wallis Island in a small dinghy asking where the harbour is when he is asked to disembark into the water. As it slowly dawns on him that Wallis Island is an almost deserted island (with a single pay phone) and the intimate gig he has been hired for consists of a single audience member a few red flags are raised. But he desperately needs the money to keep his career on track and as he jokes to his agent that he is living out the film “Misery” in real time he opts to stick around.

When Mortimer arrives more arguments are raised as old memories are stirred and they discover they still click musically. The result is glorious.

McGwyer is forced to face into what he really wants from his life and career as he no longer can run away from the decisions he made ten years earlier. Heath for the first time in years finds himself with friends who genuinely care for him and can challenge his hermit life because he too is hiding from events in his life. Whilst Mortimer, at a crossroads in her life helps McGwyer and Heath face into their problems whilst solidifying what she wants for herself. All of that may sound like a heavy dramatic study of life but this film is nothing of the sort. It is a light-hearted and gentle comedy that extracts all of these moments in humourous set pieces and character conversations.

And then of course there is the folk music. The film itself is co-written by stars Basden and Key, but alongside it comes a full album of folk songs written by Basden. In many ways it feels like the British version of Inside Llewyn Davis which also co-starred Carey Mulligan as a folk singer with a tumultuous relationship with a troubled star. Mulligan is clearly a fan of the genre given she is married to Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons. As a fan of the genre it absolutely makes the film more of a draw and renders the emotional moments more wistful.

Please seek out The Ballad Of Wallis Island. You will not be disappointed.