You just can’t beat our cousins across the pond, when it comes to quirky dramedies.
This one comes from the inventive minds of co-writers Tom Basden and Tim Key, who also play the two leading roles. They’ve expanded their BAFTA-nominated 2007 short — The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island — into this even more beguiling feature-length film.
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| Seeking a way to bridge the awkwardness still present between them, Herb (Tom Basden, left) encourages Nell (Carey Mulligan) and Charles (Tim Key) to make sky lanterns, and set them aloft with a private wish. |
The story begins as international music superstar Herb McGwyer (Basden), having agreed to do a private gig on a remote island off the Welsh coast, arrives just off-shore his destination ... following a long trip in a small motorboat. Baffled by the absence of a dock, faced with having to wade the rest of the way, Herb makes matters worse by falling out of the boat and getting thoroughly drenched.
He's nonetheless greeted enthusiastically by his host, Charles Heath (Key), who compounds Herb’s perplexity with a ceaseless barrage of apologies, words of adulation, non-sequiturs, poor attempts at humor, and otherwise meaningless idle chatter. (Prepare yourself for a barrage of bad puns.)
Herb is further annoyed/confused to discover that they need to walk the several miles to the opulent hotel where he’ll stay ... which happens to be Charles’ home.
Its architectural opulence — compounded by touches of whimsy — is breathtaking. (It’s actually Derwydd Mansion, a Tudor-style property dating back to the 15th century.)
The décor is period by way of the occasionally bizarre, decorated by somebody with far more money than taste. Kudos to production designer Alexandra Toomey and her team, who filled the vast spaces with items sourced from antique marts and trunk sales.
Along the way, Herb has tried repeatedly to get details about where he’ll perform, and for how many people, and so forth. Charles curiously deflects all such questions, until Herb — understandably — finally gets a bit frosty.
Turns out that Charles — more than a little eccentric, and a massive fan-boy — is a millionaire many times over, having won the national lottery twice. This allowed him to fill his home with every bit of McGwyer memorabilia he could find, and buy himself the ultimate fan collectible: a concert. For one person. Himself.
Herb — clearly a city mouse — is totally, hilariously flummoxed by this isolated setting. His cell phone doesn’t work, having taken an ocean bath; Charles has no uncooked rice in which to plunge it. The only pay phone is back near the beach, outside the island’s sole shop, which is run by Amanda (Sian Clifford). Forget radio or television; the island is too far from civilization.
Cinematographer G. Magni Ágústsson makes the most of frequent opportunities to showcase the island’s stunning landscapes and massive beaches; the setting is breathtaking.
Basden’s increasingly confused and frustrated expressions are priceless, as is Charles’ chatterbox efforts to put his guest at ease ... which only make matters worse.
At this early stage, we’re ready to chuck Charles out the nearest window; Key makes him totally annoying, despite what seems a genuine desire to please. Charles can’t even admire a sunset without filling the silence with the sound of his own voice.
“Just enjoy the moment,” Herb begs. Charles can’t do it.
Basden and Key share impeccable timing, honed ever since their early days as a comedy duo dubbed Freeze!, where Key acted as an out-of-control egoist to Basden’s downbeat accomplice (similar to their dynamic here). They’re both very, very funny.
Charles has one more surprise. Unbeknownst to Herb — until it becomes obvious — Charles also has invited his guest’s long-estranged former partner, Nell Mortimer (Carey Mulligan). As the folk-rock duo McGwyer Mortimer, they shot to stardom years ago ... until Herb severed the arrangement by going solo.
Ergo, Charles hasn’t merely set up a Herb McGwyer performance, he has orchestrated a McGwyer Mortimer reunionconcert. And he was savvy enough, knowing everything about both musicians, to refrain from admitting that detail until after Herb had arrived.
Nell, on the other hand, knew ahead of time ... and, seeing Herb for the first time in years, immediately recognizes what has happened.
“You didn’t tell him, did you?” she chides Charles.
Class, can we spell a-w-k-w-a-r-d?
In less talented hands, everything up to this point would seem uncomfortable, perhaps even cruel. But director James Griffith handles the tone so well, and all three of these actors are so adept, that everything — the pregnant pauses, wary glances, stiff postures, and graceless efforts at polite conversation — is hilarious.
Nell arrives with her husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen), a birder excited by the possibility of seeing puffins on the island. He’s just a regular guy, wholly at ease with the situation, in marked contrast to everybody else.
Despite Herb’s initial unwillingness to go along with this scheme, and Nell’s still-percolating anger over his long-ago betrayal, the two can’t help falling back into their former musical synergy ... like once again slipping on a pair of old but still-comfortable pair of shoes.
Mulligan is incandescent; she deftly navigates the complex nuances of Nell’s feelings for Herb. Yes, he’s a self-centered jerk ... but not entirely.
At about this point, it must be mentioned that Basden also wrote — and performs, often with Mulligan — all of the many songs that Herb and Nell sing, together or separately. (Some people clearly are way too talented.)
As to where all this leads ... well, that would be telling. Suffice to say that Basden and Key have a couple more surprises up their scripting sleeves.
Clifford is equally amusing as Amanda, whose deadpan reactions to Herb and Nell’s (to them reasonable) shopping requests are a great running joke. Although able to supply Charles with all manner of meat, fish and vegetables, Amanda reacts blankly when asked by Herb or Nell for rice ... or Reece’s Pieces ... or peanut butter cups. (How she handles the latter is a stitch.)
All the gentle humor — and occasional pratfalls — aside, this actually is a sharply observed study of relationship dynamics, love, regret and even mourning. When the third act rolls around — if not sooner — it feels as though we’re staying in Charles’ home alongside these characters, wholly engaged in each increasingly intimate moment.
All the way to the absolutely perfect final scene.
Don’t miss this one. It’s special.
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