Henry O'Brien
From the second Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player begins, it immediately conjures the shade Aretha Franklin gave Taylor Swift: “Great gowns, beautiful gowns.” The movie, which stars Colin Farrell as a down-on-his-luck gambler in Macau, has a sheen of surface-level beauty, but nothing to suggest there is anything emotionally resonant underneath the surface. The film, based on the 2014 Lawrence Osborne novel of the same name, becomes a predictable slog that feels far too tidy and polished for a story about a gambling addict trying to redeem himself.
This shouldn’t be too surprising considering Berger has made a habit of making films that seem well-thought-out and aesthically pleasing to look at, but never go further. The best example of this is his 2022 adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, which was technically proficient (and awarded as such at that year’s Oscars), but lacked the anti-war punch that the 1930 version did. Berger’s previous film, Conclave, another awards darling, messed with the seriousness of a papal election to create a distinct and entertaining feeling. In other words, he let there be comedy in a movie that seemingly didn’t want any.
When Berger and his respective screenwriter let loose, there’s something to bite on. But the German director, this time with screenwriter Rowan Joffén (The Informer, Before I Go to Sleep), doesn’t go the extra mile to mess with expectations. Instead, the whole affair is as contrived as many a sports drama. So many times Joffén and Berger take the easy way out about how Farrell’s character tries to use gambling to pay off his debts and start fresh. There’s predictably a deadline for Doyle to give the money back, but there’s no hint of danger on if he doesn’t.
This fact is further disappointing, considering what the lead man Farrell, who in this film plays a man by the fake name of Lord Doyle, has been up to recently. He had his Emmy-nominated performance as Oswald Cobblepot on HBO’s The Penguin, but had a dead-on-arrival romantic drama A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, just a month earlier. That film lacked any romantic chemistry between Farrell and Margot Robbie; Ballad of a Small Player suffers from the same issues.
Hot on Doyle’s trail is British private eye Cynthia (Tilda Swinton), who looks to get money for the clients that he ripped off and casino employee Dao Ming (Fala Chen), who seems to give far more of a helping hand. Farrell’s character shares a separate scene with both of these actresses, but neither has any form of spark, even as Joffén’s script hints at romance from both female characters.
The book on which the film is based also has elements of a ghost story. While Berger’s film doesn’t explicitly deal with mysterious apparitions, there’s a level of horror—particularly of the kind that focuses on compulsion— to the film. But this experience becomes frustrating yet again as there’s only one true moment that will have audiences jump in their seat from an honest-to-god jumpscare. The problem isn’t that the movie isn’t as paranormal as its source material; it’s that it hints at terror but never delivers on that promise again.
As the so-called heat surrounds Doyle, he escapes from Macau and reunites with Dao and the two start to bond more about their failures in life. In terms of being some pivot point from the second act to the third, this sequence feels so ham-fisted to follow the “Save the Cat” beat sheet strictly. Berger tries to make up for this by having more abstract shots and capturing the vibrancy and color of Macau, but it all comes off as superficial.
Ballad of a Small Player wants to think of itself as a prestige project that offers a beguiling look at human behavior and the demons that gambling can engender. But at every point of this film, Berger folds at the blackjack table and walks away satisfied with mediocrity.
