The Ballad of Wallis IslandMovies like The Ballad of Wallis Island
- Key Features:
- Eccentric character, Lottery winner, Remote island, Musical performance, Dream fulfillment, Solitude, Quirky, Feel-good, Personal quest
- Tone:
- whimsical, humorous
- Target Audience:
- Feel-good movie enthusiasts, Fans of quirky comedies, Viewers interested in stories about personal fulfillment, Those who enjoy stories about eccentrics
- Emotional Arc:
- Contentment → Aspiration → Realization
The Ballad of Wallis Island

An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favourite musicians to perform at his home.
The Ballad of Wallis Island
A cataclysmic event causes a man, who dreams of winning the lottery, to become stranded on an island with his co-workers.

Two friends on a small island in Brittany discover the lottery winner is dead with the winning ticket. They plan a village-wide scam to take his place.

Niyazi is a humble factory worker whose life is turned upside down when he wins the “altılı ganyan” (six-horse accumulator) lottery. Suddenly, everyone from neighbours to total strangers, claiming to be his long-lost relatives, crowds around him hoping for a share of his fortune. Thanks to his quick wit, Niyazi manages to outsmart these opportunists and keep his winnings.

Lino lives in Turin with the family of his sister. He doesn't have a good job and never enough money. But in a day his life changes: he wins 1 billion dollars in a lottery and... everyone becomes a friend, the girl who he liked becomes his girlfriend and his sister begins to love him. He leaves Turin with his friend Parola and, in a casino, he loses all money! But luck returns...

When a lottery winner dies of shock, his fellow townsfolk attempt to claim the money.

Superenalotto winner Pasquale Esposito with his family, two penniless students from Emilia and the Colombo and Covelli families, who accidentally rent the same chalet, will spend the Christmas holidays in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

A West Texas single mother wins the lottery and squanders it just as fast, leaving behind a world of heartbreak. Years later, with her charm running out and nowhere to go, she fights to rebuild her life and find redemption.

In the near future, a 'Grand Lottery' has been established - the catch: kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot. When Katie Kim mistakenly finds herself with the winning ticket, she reluctantly joins forces with amateur lottery protection agent Noel Cassidy who must get her to sundown in exchange for a piece of her prize.

A group of contest winners arrive at an island hotel to live out their dreams, only to find themselves trapped in nightmare scenarios.

When a bored millionaire (Steve Lund) is mistaken for a parking attendant by a beautiful girl (Siobhan Williams) who is protesting against his family’s intention of closing a local park, he uses the misunderstanding to get to know her better.

After winning the lottery, the life of the happy winner turns into a nightmare. The movie consists of four separate stories divided into five parts. They tell the different stages of the winner's life, from discovering the reward to witnessing the consequences caused by the prize.

Twig, Cap and Rusty live however they can in the Bois de Vincennes, east of Paris. This may completely change the day they learn they are the national lottery winner – though it is less than expected! Yet, they still need to collect the money and share it in equal parts. The hardest part of all will be to resume a “normal” life, filled with surprises and contradictions.

Lacking inspiration, a composer isolates himself at a desolate house, on a small island, in Brittany. There he finds an old piano and receives visits from people who won't let him rest.

Magali plays in a brass band. Guillaume drives a small tourist train. Both spin a perfect love, they share modest dreams and their baby is about to come. But an unexpected news upsets their routine: a man appears and announces that he is Guillaume's estranged father and also reveals that Guillaume is his legitimate heir of a kingdom offshore of France and England. Guillaume and Magali start to dream of a life as monarchs, surrounded by faithful subjects in their castle, enjoying their wealth. But reality is often different to what you can imagine.

Gaetano is a divorced traffic cop in a relationship with a beautiful and exuberant woman, for whom he happily provides standards of living well above his means. He plans to propose to her, but she is thinking to run away with his handsome superior. In the midst of debts, unpaid alimony and other serious financial issues, Gaetano unexpectedly wins the lottery, turning the fortune around.

1840 and another ship crashes on the rocks of an almost deserted island in Scotland. Three sailors survive the wreck and make it to shore where the few locals take them in as they wait for the mainland boat to come for them. But the sailors' survival story has only just started as they uncover the strange past of the once vibrant island.

A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.

Kevin Carson is a young man living in the projects who has to survive a three-day weekend after his opportunistic neighbors find out he's holding a winning lottery ticket worth $370 million.

Amid the glittering casinos of Macau, a gambler running from his past — and his debts — becomes fascinated by an enigmatic woman at the baccarat table.

Villaviciosa de al Lado is a peaceful town stuck in time, living exclusively of the fame of a 200 years-old spa. Therefore, city hall's debts threatens to close the spa and ruin all town. Their salvation becomes when suddenly mayor Anselmo and the rest of members of city hall realize that they won the Christmas Lottery. But their happiness turns in horror after to discover that the prize belongs to a serial number distributed by the town's brothel, causing the suspicion of the wives and fear of the husbands after a TV interview where Mari, brothel's owner, claims that the almost men of the town will have prize from the lottery. Wanting a way to charge the prize to save the town without having to suffer the anger of their respective women, Anselmo, Ricardo, César, Juandi and Paco plots a plan in order to steal the money from the brothel, meanwhile Mari tries reconcile her stranded life and restore the memory of her deceased father, a former mayor.

George Bird is a salesman of agricultural machinery who finds out that he hasn't long to live. On his doctor's advice, he goes to an exclusive seaside resort to spend his savings on one last holiday.

A year in the life of Alice Klieg, a woman with Borderline personality disorder who wins the Mega Millions lottery, quits her meds and buys her own talk show.

Two small-town singers chase their pop star dreams at a global music competition, where high stakes, scheming rivals and onstage mishaps test their bond.

Everyone in the village of Bouzolles knows the Tuche family, who live by the philosophy "Man is not made to work." Despite their lack of money, they strive to be happy... that is, until their hand-to-mouth existence is turned on its head. After winning the lottery, the Tuches get rich beyond their wildest dreams and move to Monaco. And while attempting to fit in in their swanky new homeland, they struggle to stay true to the same principles by which they've always lived.

When the little haberdasher Arras discovers she's won 18 million in the lottery and can now afford anything she wants, she has only one fear: losing the small joys of life made simple it cherishes above all. But fate is obstinate, and this is giving too long this good fortune will trigger it, despite herself, a hurricane that will change everything. Everything except her.

An offbeat observation of refugees waiting to be granted asylum on a fictional remote Scottish island. It focuses on Omar, a young Syrian musician who is burdened by the weight of his grandfather’s oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland.

The story of Dylan Pettersson, a 23-year-old girl from a small island in the Swedish archipelago with big dancing aspirations.

The eclectic residents of a small, picturesque island town must navigate a sensational murder and the discovery of a million dollars, leading to a series of increasingly bad decisions which upend the once-peaceful community.

The remarkable true story of how retiree Jerry Selbee discovers a mathematical loophole in the Massachusetts lottery and, with the help of his wife, Marge, wins $27 million dollars and uses the money to revive their small Michigan town.

Nearing death, videogame genius Leone Stella holds a contest to find an heir: several people named like him will compete in a live-streamed reenactment of his most famous exploits, and the winner will inherit his billion-dollar fortune.

Two white collar thieves compete fiercely against the other trying to steal to an old baker the millions he won on the lotto.

Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.

Arthur is a grumpy pensioner who can't understand why his wife Marion would want to embarrass herself singing silly songs with her unconventional local choir. But choir director Elizabeth sees something special in the reluctant Arthur and refuses to give up on him. As she coaxes him out of his shell, Arthur realizes that it is never too late to change.

3 men from a provincial town who are in an urgent need for money so they decide to buy a lottery ticket. They win the lottery, but very soon, the ticket gets stolen.

Memo lives on a remote Chilean sheep farm, hiding a beautiful singing voice from the outside world. A recluse with a glittery flair, he can't stop dwelling on the past, but what will happen once someone finally listens?

Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman, reluctantly leaves his beloved isolated Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory sees his life transformed through a newly found bond with his baby grandson.

Four friends become stranded in Eastern Europe and have to become hit men, prostitutes, corrupt cops, smugglers and more to make it home.

Ciottoli is a journalist with absolutely no prospective for his career, with a lot of debts and a mobster that want him died. Unexpectedly he win the national lottery (almost Eur 2.5 Mln) and try to remain unanimous hiding the winner ticker into his typewriter. Ironically his director order to him to write an article on the mysterious winner. When he is back home he discovers all his furniture has been confiscate and will go on a public auction. He will try desperately to buy back the worthless typewriter while all his previous problems still follows him, especially the mobster...

Millionaire conservative Bob Roberts launches an insurgent campaign against incumbent senator Brickley Paiste, firing up crowds at his rallies by singing '60s-style acoustic folk songs with lyrics espousing far-right conservative social and economic views.

A legendary and friendly creature named Nessie lives happily in a small pond with her friend MacQuack, a rubber duck. When a rich developer takes the pond and land surrounding it to build a miniature golf course, Nessie is forced to search for a new home.

Chad Gates has just been discharged from the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surf-board, his beach buddies and his girlfriend.

In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by Maui reaches an impetuous Chieftain's daughter's island, she answers the Ocean's call to seek out the demigod to set things right.

A young girl inhabits an isolated island with her scientist father and communicates with a reclusive author of the novel she's reading.

Rıfkı, who lives in Germany, returns to his village, which he left years ago, to sell the properties inherited from his late father. A few coincidences that occur upon his arrival in the village lead to his name being associated with the 'Saint' title.

Struggling with a financial crisis, a good-looking widow decides to put herself up for grabs. However, going through with it becomes almost impossible with a new love and the legal system thrown into the mix.

In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully-controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to The Island — reportedly the last uncontaminated location on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie.

Check out the hilarious story of luck and misadventures of Tino, a family man whose life is transformed after he wins the lottery. Dazzled by wealth, this boaster spends all his money on a life of luxury and ostentation. But after finding out that he is bankrupt, he faces comical situations: besides not telling his wife he is broke because she is pregnant and cannot get upset, Tino must accept help from his neighbor who is an extremely thrifty financial adviser and the only one capable of getting him out of the rut.

A reticent piano player Percival, along with Rooster, his flamboyant lead performer and manager, struggle to keep their speakeasy, in the Prohibition-era South, out of the hands of gangsters who want to take it over.

Rags follows the story of Charlie Prince, an orphan living with his acerbic and unloving stepfather and spoiled, simple-minded stepbrothers. Charlie's dream is to be a singer, and while he is vocally talented and can write music, he can't seem to catch a break. Kadee Worth, on the other hand, is the daughter of music mogul Reginald Worth and is an international pop phenomenon. While the world knows her as a glamorous superstar, she is secretly frustrated with singing other people's songs and wearing clothes other people choose for her. Kadee wants the world to hear and see her true talent. Despite every obstacle that gets thrown in their way, once Charlie and Kadee find one another, they each finally get what they have been looking for – a voice, a stage, an audience and each other.

A bourgeois office drone whose raison d'être is the music of French rocker Johnny Hallyday awakens one day in an alternate universe where the famed musician never recorded a single song. When he’s not at the office dutifully plugging-away, Fabrice lives a deadly dull life.

Two years after surviving alone on the hostile island of Val Verde, Jack Mimoun has become an adventure star. The book recounting his experience is a bestseller and his television show breaks audience records. He is then approached by the mysterious Aurélie Diaz who will bring Jack Mimoun back to Val Verde to train him in search of the legendary sword of the pirate La Buse. Accompanied by Bruno Quézac, the ambitious but reckless manager of Jack, and Jean-Marc Bastos, a mercenary as disturbed as he is unpredictable, our adventurers will embark on an incredible treasure hunt through the jungle of the island of thousand dangers.

An eccentric millionaire and his grandchildren are embroiled in the plights of some forest gnomes who are searching for the rest of their tribe. While helping them, the millionaire is suspected of being crazy because he's seeing gnomes! He's committed, and the niece and nephew and the gnomes have to find him and free him.

Ten-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie – a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate.

Two Brooklyn siblings' summer in a rural Oahu town takes an exciting turn when a journal pointing to long-lost treasure sets them on an adventure, leading them to reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.

A man befriends a fellow criminal as the two of them begin serving their sentence on a dreadful prison island, which inspires the man to plot his escape.

Set against the backdrop of a beautiful garden in the heart of London, this contemporary fairy tale revolves around the unlikely friendship between a reclusive young woman and a cantankerous old widower. Bella Brown is a beautifully quirky young woman who dreams of writing and illustrating a successful children’s book. After she is forced by her landlord to deal with her neglected garden or face eviction, she meets her match, nemesis, and unlikely mentor in Alfie Stephenson, a grumpy, loveless, old man who lives next door who happens to be an amazing horticulturalist.

After one of his customers dies from the shock of winning a lottery, lottery ticket seller Lilaram hatches a plan to have that money all for himself. But others from the village have also got their eyes on the money.

An Icelandic couple live with their herd of sheep on a beautiful but remote farm. When they discover a mysterious newborn on their land, they decide to keep it and raise it as their own. This unexpected development and the prospects of a new family brings them much joy before ultimately destroying them.

Zeynap Altin is at the end of her tether: she works far too much and is not valued at all by her husband, daughter and father. To make matters worse, the funeral home dressed her beloved late mother in a man's suit instead of her favorite dress. Enough is enough: Zeynep flees from Munich to the previously unknown holiday home on a Croatian island that her mother secretly bought years ago - with the hope of finding quiet, peace and herself there. If only the previous owner Josip, a rough islander, didn't still live on the same property and annoy her with his views and wisdom.

Gianni is a taxi driver dissatisfied with his life. One day by chance he gets the opportunity to take possession of the villa and life of a billionaire on holiday.

Tormented and bedridden by a debilitating disease, a mystery writer relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations.

Alan gets a map to some war treasure which the Japanese army left behind on a small Pacific island at the end of World War II. But some gangsters try to steal the map from him and so he hides on Charlie's boat which just leaves the harbor. He manipulates the ship's compass so that Charlie is not aware that he is sailing to the treasure island. But when they step on the island, they discover that it is not as abandoned as they believed: there are some natives - and a Japanese soldier still defending the treasure

Ten fishermen from Cornwall are signed by Universal Records and achieve a top ten hit with their debut album of Sea Shanties. Based on the true-life story of Cornish folk band, Fisherman's Friends.

A young man, plagued by the music in his head, has to come to terms with an uncertain future while balancing love, family and Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey.

Abandoned after coming out, Shun befriends Mio just before he has to move. Years later, Mio returns with a confession. How will Shun feel?

After inheriting a fortune Tereza Cristina, Crodoalvo Valerius, better known as "Crô", is tired of life millionaire. Determined to find a new muse who can devote his life, he begins a personal quest that makes interview several turkeys. Your goal is to find one that is best qualified to own that he can serve as a steward, as he did with his former employer. However, after much review, just realizing that his ideal muse is exactly the one I had ever imagined.

After winning the lottery, François goes to a bar in Pigalle and offers one hundred thousand Euros per month to a prostitute named Daniela to live with him as his wife until his money runs out.

Dutch coach Thomas Rongen attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team from perennial losers into winners.

Jenn has washed ashore a small tropical island and it doesn’t take her long to realize she’s completely alone. She must spend her days not only surviving the elements, but must also fend off the malevolent force that comes out each night.

A reverse comedy that tells the story of a perfectionist assassin who falls and hits his head in a sauna, giving him amnesia. When a down-and-out actor switches locker keys with him, they switch lives until the hit-man, who soon becomes an action hero on TV, starts to remember things.

An aging, booze-addled father takes a trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim what he believes to be a million-dollar sweepstakes prize.

Dino craft practice tattoos, Bruna is a beautician; their studies are facing each other. They learn of a mysterious treasure hidden in a chair that belonged to a woman now dead.

Two untalented singers are mistaken for a pair of major league safe crackers in Providence, Rhode Island. The two are pressed into service by the local hoodlums and quickly find themselves in conflict with their professional colleagues. Romantic interest is added by the daughter of the underworld leader who won't date the men she knows are gangsters.

Hüseyin is a young man who lives with his grandfather and grandmother in a village in Thracian Turkey. The two great loves of his life are his clarinet and Müjgan, a nurse. Although Hüseyin is content with his life, with his music and dreams of Mügan, due to an unexpected development he leaves his village. He ends up in Istanbul where he finds support first in his clarinet and then in the friendship of the singer Firuzan. Firuzan is a popular nightclub performer who is eagerly working on an album as she leads a colorful but complicated life. When Firuzan meets Huseyin, the course of events gives away to a hilarious adventure.

A wildlife volunteer on an uninhabited island off the British coast descends into a terrifying madness that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare.

Gauthier, a young journalist, learns from his mother that he is the illegitimate son of Guy Jamet, a popular French singer whose heyday stretched unevenly from the 1960’s to the nineties. Guy is currently promoting a new album of old material and heads on tour. Armed with a camera, Gauthier decides to follow Guy, recording his daily routine and his concerts to create a documentary portrait.

Between Alice, a hospital nurse and Aldo, a shampoo sales representative, things have turned sour of late. Alice blames her husband for lacking ambition and contemplates divorce.One day Aldo wins the ten million euro lotto prize. But, unwilling to share the bonanza, he keeps mum about it, all the more as he finds out Alice has an affair with Gérard, Aldo's former friend and ... new boss. However, Aldo, leading a double life, starts spending his money ...

A Victorian gentleman hopes to find his long-lost son, who vanished while searching for a mysterious Viking community in a volcanic valley somewhere in uncharted Arctic regions. The gentleman puts together an expedition team to go on the search, but when they reach their destination they must escape from some Viking descendants who will kill to keep their existence a secret.

An aspiring singer from southern Italy who's just been dumped moves north to Milan, where he falls in love and enters a TV singing competition show.

A local woman is hired to draw paparazzi away from a Hollywood actress who has come to Scotland to get married.

A Los Angeles journalist befriends a homeless Juilliard-trained musician, while looking for a new article for the paper.

When an English cartographer arrives in Wales to tell the residents of the Welsh village of Ffynnon Garw that their 'mountain' is only a hill, the offended community sets out to remedy the situation.

An alien intending to claim Earth for his people before their homeworld is destroyed by a comet decides not to eliminate humanity when he hears their music. Instead, he lives among them until another alien is sent to find and kill him.

After suffering a plane crash on a mysterious island, a young man embarks on an epic journey through forests, deserts and mountains trying to escape the shadow of a huge dark spirit.

To celebrate Yves’ 50th birthday, his friends plan to take him to the sunny paradise of Paros in Greece. But due to a cancelled flight, the holiday will take place in a far less glamorous and much rainier destination: Yves’ family home in Brittany. During the vacation, their bonds are challenged by Antoine’s constant complaining, Yves’ pride, Baptiste’s superstition and Laurent’s jealousy of Jean-Mich’s perfect life and family. On top of that, Antoine’s supposedly harmless joke – offering Yves a DNA ancestry test – has unforeseen consequences…

The odd biography of Harvie Krumpet, a man who has Tourette's Syndrome, chronic bad luck, menial jobs, nudist tendencies, and a book of "fakts" hung around his neck - but still optimistically lives own way and enjoys the small things life has to offer.

Under the watch of his unkind realtives, lonely Bosse's luck is changed when he is sent to the land where his real father is the King. In that country, he sets out on a quest, together with his new friend, to destroy the evil Knight Kato.

When a golden opportunity arises to boost the fortunes of a forgotten fishing town, its residents set out to trick their way to making it happen.

The Katakuri family has just opened their guest house in the mountains. Unfortunately their first guest commits suicide and in order to avoid trouble they decide to bury him in the backyard. Things get way more complicated when their second guest, a famous sumo wrestler, dies while having sex with his underage girlfriend and the grave behind the house starts to fill up more and more.

Odd Horton is dependable and contained: he's a train driver retiring after 40 years of service, living a simple life. His idea of adventure is to fly from one city in Norway to another. Starting on the night of his retirement dinner, Odd has a series of dislocating experiences: a boy insists that Odd sit by his bedside while he falls asleep; misadventure causes Odd to miss his last run; he witnesses an arrest; he assists an old man and makes a friend; he takes a trip with a blindfolded driver; he adopts a dog; he takes stock late one night at the roundhouse; he revisits his mother's disappointment in him. How should he live the rest of his life?

A man searches for his childhood best friend, a Polish violin prodigy orphaned in the Holocaust, who vanished decades before on the night of his first public performance.

A gambling addict faces a conflict when entrusted with keeping a bunch of money that isn't his.

Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it.

A man finds the wallet of a rich man and takes a rigorous trip in an old car to return it, finding an old love and a new life of luxury awaiting.

Darren Barrenman, an unwavering optimist and native Angeleno, spends his days looking after the pool of the Tahitian Tiki apartment block and fighting to make his hometown a better place to live.

The story of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raised on the ship, 1900 learned about the outside world through interactions with passengers, never setting foot on land, even for the love of his life. Years later, the ship may be destroyed, and a former band member fears that 1900 may still be aboard, willing to go down with the ship.

With one coin to make a wish at the piazza fountain, a peasant girl encounters two competing street performers who'd prefer the coin find its way into their tip jars. The little girl, Tippy, is caught in the middle as a musical duel ensues between the one-man-bands.


