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A lot of movies start out as short films; more than you’d ever expect and many that you’d never suspect. Fatal Attraction for example was at first a forty minute UK film called Diversion. Whiplash in its initial version was only eighteen minutes and Evil Dead was around half an hour. Take the terrible Adam Sandler movie Pixels, that in its original incarnation was French and under 180 seconds in duration, both of which would have made it infinitely more watchable. 

With this being such a common thing it is perhaps no great coincidence that both of the features I saw at the cinema this week started out the same way, but one I nonetheless felt like commenting on. I guess the reason I chose to make something of this is that both Hallow Road and The Ballad of Wallis Island wear this history on their sleeve a little more. You can totally tell that both of them have been expanded from a briefer concept, yet they achieve this transition in very different ways. 

With The Ballad of Wallis Island they have built it up by adding significant new characters. When stars and writers Tim Key and Tom Basden first told this tale, they were the only two in it. Now though there are eight involved with Basden’s once famous folk singer now previously being part of a double act and Key’s lonely widower gaining a potential new love interest. It is interesting that both of these main two additions are women, played charmingly by Carey Mulligan and Sian Clifford, because while it is great to have females involved it also kind of makes it more noticeable they are only there to serve the males’ narrative. This is perhaps inevitable in light of the way this has all come together but it does unfortunately reinforce a bit of a sexist trope. 

Fortunately this is a minor niggle with an otherwise delightful film. Basden and Key, mostly known for TV roles, have I’m sure never been better and their tale of lost souls finding an unlikely camaraderie is bittersweet and beautiful. Key is particularly strong as a man whose naturally, if clumsily, positive disposition is constantly fighting against the persona tragedy has turned him into. The inclusion of Mulligan adds some real honesty and heart to everything as well (as well as star power). The script and performances balance comedy and heartache in a way typical of Taika Waititi at his peak and the film, in its new extended format, is an absolute gem.

Hallow Road goes a different route, keeping its cast slight (countable on one hand rather than two) but really expanding the characterisation and dialogue. Most of the film takes place in a single car as Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys’ married couple head to the site where their undergrad daughter has just been in a bad car accident. It is immediately a parent’s worse fear and then becomes a proper nightmare (and brought closer to home for me as said daughter has the same name as my own similar aged offspring). The plot expertly extends what was an even simpler story than the source for The Ballad of Wallis Island but is utterly gripping. Like that movie, this is again down to great writing and super performances but in a totally different way. Hallow Road comes from director Babak Anvari whose 2016 horror Under the Shadow was equally sophisticated. 

So while neither film is able to hide the fact that they previously came up short, they have laid this to rest in every respect. In a climate where the majority of new films seem to also be expansions of existing properties, albeit in a different way, it is great to see something that brings new things to the big screen with such mastery.