“The Ballad of Wallis Island” 

(Drama/Music: 1 hour, 39 minutes) 

Starring: Tom Basden, Tim Key and Carey Mulligan

Director: James Griffiths

Rated: PG-13 (Language)

Movie Review:

An adaptation of the 26-minute short film “The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island” (2007), “The Ballad of Wallis Island” and the 2007 short movie are written by Tom Basden and Tim Key and directed by James Griffiths. A small cast of five offers a genuine feature about adapting to change while reminiscing. 

Charles Heath (Key) is an eccentric man living a solitary life on the remote Wallis Island. He is also a two-time national lottery winner. His only contact is Amanda (Sian Clifford), the proprietor of the island’s grocery and supply store. A major fan of Mortimer-McGwyer, the duo of musicians Herb McGwyer (Basden) and Nell Mortimer (Mulligan), Heath pays them a large sum of money to perform at his home. Unresolved tensions between McGwyer and Mortimer may upend this musical reunion.

Tim Key plays the peculiar Charles Heath in a somewhat childish manner that is as endearing as it is comically melancholy. Key is annoying initially, but his character becomes more appealing as the story develops. He provides the amusing elements.

Tom Basden provides the drama as McGwyer. This is especially evident when Carey Mulligan’s Mortimer arrives. Basden and Mulligan scenes together are fascinating. They play their parts well to the point that they appear to be past lovers trying to reconnect. Their efforts are futile, considering Mortimer’s husband Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen) accompanies her to the last gig for Mortimer-McGwyer. 

Much of this dramedy concerns the interactions between Basden and Key, aptly directed by Griffiths. The rest of the cast are secondary players to them. The men have lively discussions that are gratifying performances, even when characters’ actions annoy.

This fictional island, described as just off the coast of the United Kingdom’s Wales, Wallis Island provides a unique place for an interesting setting for engaging characters.  

Grade: B (Aye, a good song it is.)

 

“The Ugly Stepsister”

(Period Drama/Horror: 1 hour, 49 minutes; Norwegian with subtitles) 

Starring: Lea Myren, Ane Dahl Torp, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, and Flo Fagerli

Director: Emilie Blichfeldt

Rated: R (Violence, gore, nudity, sexual content, strong language and thematic elements)

Movie Review:

Norwegian director-writer Emilie Blichfeldt’s screenplay gets audiences back the gory elements of the Grimm Brothers’ version of Cinderella. This movie is not for children. It contains adult concepts, including body dysmorphophobia. What is grand about this movie is its focus on capturing the Cinderella story as a product of its time. The movie does not apply revisionist history or portray the women as independent and not needing men. It shows women as secondary citizens to men. The women must maneuver within this societal hierarchy. This social construct is the influential force for one sister’s extreme measures to alter her body to achieve beauty.

That sister is Elvira (Myren). She becomes the stepsister of Agnes (Næss), later called Cinderella by her stepfamily. When the kingdom informs all young women who are virgins that Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth) will have a grand ball to find a suitable consort, Elvira is determined to beat out the beautiful Agnes and other young maidens by any means necessary. Considered the ugly stepsister, Elvira and her scheming mother, Rebekka (Torp), plot to put Elvira at the top of the eligible bachelorettes list. 

“The Ugly Stepsister’s” cast is superb. The main character is Elvira, and Myren plays the deranged young woman well, a compelling performance. Myren’s Elvira goes from a docile romantic dreamer to an aggressive and ruthless person without regret. Her only moral compass is Alma, her younger sister, played by Fagerli. Alma seeks peace through independence. She is the only person not concerned with attracting a male suitor in this dysfunctional family. 

Set during a time when women married to achieve a higher socioeconomic class, this retelling of an old fairy tale presents an unsettling view with lessons for today’s audiences. Beauty at all costs to marry the man of her dreams is Elvira’s goal. Her mother, Rebekka, just wants a privileged life. Like her daughter, she is willing to do anything to achieve that, including selling herself for men’s pleasure. Rebekka endorses her daughter’s self-makeover, despite the pain and humiliation Elvira endures. 

Directed and written by Blichfeldt (“How Do You Like My Hair?” 2013) in her directorial debut for a full-length film, “The Ugly Stepsister” is a beautifully done movie, despite the gory imagery showcased. While Blichfeldt makes her characters strongly determined women, she does not sugar coat her movie with modern feminist ideology like many contemporary movies. She explores the sexist themes of the past by showing how the misogynistic principles affect women, particularly Elvira. Blichfeldt transforms the character physically and mentally as the young female goes from being perceived as ugly to an attractive woman to easily seduces men.

Parts of this movie dive into a fairy tale-like presence, but this is a horror movie. It displays violence and gore via major attention-getting means, competently captured by cinematographer Marcel Zyskind (“Falling,” 2020, Director Viggo Mortensen). Blichfeldt creates intense moments throughout this twisted, brilliant and original take on Cinderella.      

Grade: B+ (She gets ugly in a convincingly good way.)