Ballad of a Small Player, 2025.
Directed by Edward Berger.
Starring Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deanie Ip and Alex Jennings.
SYNOPSIS:
When his past and his debts start to catch up with him, a high-stakes gambler laying low in Macau encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to his salvation.
Instead of the sparkling lit streets and casinos of Las Vegas, director Edward Berger takes audiences to the exotic Macau where Colin Farrell stars as an addicted gambler in Ballad of a Small Player. Farrell delivers a great performance with Berger’s stylish direction, examining the ways greed and addiction have effected the lives around Farrell’s character. However, the film as a whole is a bit more flash than substance, relying on Farrell to carry it through.
Farrell is Lord Doyle, a gambler residing in Macau where he is on a string of bad luck losing game after game with a rising mountain of debts. With the risk of being kicked out and blacklisted as well as a private investigator on his heels, Doyle’s time to win back money is quickly running out.
This is the type of role Farrell often excels at and that is no different here. As Doyle he tries to be charming while squirming away from creditors, but behind Doyle’s bluster is a rather insecure man scared of finally being caught for his misdeeds. Despite Doyle’s faults, Farrell makes the audiences feel for him as he struggles through his gambling addiction, mild alcoholism and determination to run from accountability no matter how significant.
The chemistry between Farrell and Fala Chen, who plays the hostess Dao Ming at one of the casinos, is great with the two feeding off and complimenting each other. Chen displays a lot of empathy as Dao Ming, showing why Doyle and her are drawn to each other as their similarities enhance both their individual arcs and the film’s themes. Tilda Swinton provides a lot of depth as well as levity as Cynthia Blithe, the PI hired to investigate Doyle. Swinton and Farrell have fun in their own little cat-and-mouse game that doesn’t follow the normal tropes of such an antagonistic rivalry. The cast from top to bottom is excellent and Farrell shines with everyone he shares the screen with.
Where Ballad falters though is in its story. Though Farrell is investing as Doyle, there is a lot to juggle as Doyle’s problems pile up and goes from one to the next. The urgency is never fully felt despite Doyle’s increasing stress due to how much is going on and little to no hinderances to really prevent him from saving himself. For example, repeated warnings to call the police on him never come to fruition even when that step is called for. It all feels a little too easy to wrap up and a last minute twist raises more questions than it does answer adding to that feeling of convenience in the final leg of the story.
Berger’s cinematography is gorgeous as it takes us to several different neighbourhoods and districts of Macau. It is bright, colourful and creates tension in the card games Doyle enters. The themes of Doyle and Dao Ming being lost souls closer to ghosts is one of the more interesting aspects to their relationship as well as the film’s story and the focus on Doyle’s addictions emphasize the dangerous and lonely paths overconsumption, whether through wealth or drink, can have on a person. But with the weaknesses of the story mentioned above, it ends up relying more on its flashy style and Farrell’s performance than its story
Ballad of a Small Player is yet another strong performance from Colin Farrell with Fala Chen and Tilda Swinton giving memorable roles alongside him. The visuals of Macau’s glitz and glamour opposite its lesser districts is striking and feeds into the film’s themes, but they are not enough to help the overstretched story. Even still, Berger makes an entertaining film with Farrell making his role charismatic and emotive.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
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