“Edward Berger’s Ballad Of A Small Player is a wonderfully entertaining psychological thriller featuring a brilliant performance from Colin Farrell.”
The latest movie from director Edward Berger, Ballad Of A Small Player, is now available on Netflix. The film is a psychological thriller, starring Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings, and Tilda Swinton. Written by Rowan Joffé, based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Lawrence Osborne, the film is a neon-tinged tour through Macau. But can the film be a wonderfully entertaining and gripping movie? Or should it have simply thrown in its hand and folded at the table?
PREMISE
Lord Doyle is lying low in Macau – spending his days and nights on the casino floors, drinking heavily and gambling what little money he has left. Struggling to keep up with his fast-rising debts, he is offered a lifeline by the mysterious Dao Ming, a casino employee with secrets of her own. However, in hot pursuit is Cynthia Blithe – a private investigator ready to confront Doyle with what he is running from. As Doyle tries to climb to salvation, the confines of reality start to close in.
THOUGHTS
If you’re searching for a great movie to watch this Sunday afternoon, pick this one! It is a wonderfully entertaining, witty, and heartfelt thriller that grips from start to finish. With unexpected comedy, supremely gripping thrills, a grand narrative, and some high emotion, the movie is a delight. With some brilliant performances from Farrell, Fala Chen, and Tilda Swinton, and featuring an excellent performance from Deanie Ip, the film hits the ground running and never stops. Even in its quieter, more dramatic moments, the film’s momentum doesn’t stop. It all builds to a shattering and heartbreaking crescendo that will bring the house down.
COLIN FARRELL
Colin Farrell as Lord Doyle delivers a performance for the ages. As a debt-ridden, compulsive gambler, Doyle doesn’t think twice about drinking to excess, throwing money around left, right and centre, and being the biggest ass he can. He doesn’t care about anyone or anything. But is he really what he says he is, and can he repay all the money he owes? Farrell slips into Doyle’s stylish clothes superbly. From the moment we first encounter him —his clipped British tones, his ways —we are hooked. He places us firmly in the palm of his hand and never lets us go. By the midway point, when we understand who and what Doyle is, we start to feel differently about him. Instead of loving the cad, we start to doubt him.
Watching Doyle’s downfall, despair, and eventual redemption, we find our feelings for him shift constantly. Farrell doesn’t let the mask slip once. From the moment we learn the truth about Doyle, which comes pretty early on, to the lengths he goes to in his quest to clear his debts and to come out on top, we are conflicted. However, when the stunning truth about events becomes clear at the end, Doyle finally gets hit by an epiphany, a redemption we didn’t see coming. By the time the film ends, we are hit by a wave of emotion. Farrell is deserving of an Oscar nomination for his role here. He takes to his role like a duck to water. It is a fine, funny, and brilliant piece of acting by Farrell.
FALA CHEN
Fala Chen as Dao Ming is a revelation. The actress plays her role with grace, humility, charm, and emotion whenever she appears on the screen. When Doyle is at his lowest ebb, Dao appears to save him, to bring him back to the path he needs to tread. The scenes she shares with Farrell are among the best in the film, leading us to believe she will enter into a relationship with Doyle before pulling back to a slight distance. This continues throughout the film, making the audience laugh, feel sad for her, before a shocking and heartbreaking revelation near the climax. Fala Chen is superb. Whenever she is on screen, the film and the drama it contains reach a wholly different level.
TILDA SWINTON
Tilda Swinton as Cynthia Blithe is hilarious. Essentially, her role is little more than an extended cameo appearance. But that hardly matters. The actress here delivers a performance that has the audience chuckling along. She is the perfect foil for Farrell’s Doyle. Whatever Doyle can come out with, Cynthia can match or even better it. The relationship between Doyle and Cynthia is a real highlight of the film. The way Farrell and Tilda Swinton play off each other is delicious. When Doyle says he wants to dance with Cynthia one day, we hope to see it before the film ends. It is a slight spoiler to say that they do indeed get to dance together during the end credits, in a brilliantly hilarious and uplifting scene. You can see that both Farrell and Tilda Swinton had a lot of fun filming this scene.
WRITING AND DIRECTION
The screenplay by Rowan Joffé, adapting Lawrence Osborne’s novel, is a winning one. Fans of the book will know exactly what I’m talking about when I say Joffé has nailed it. Every aspect of the book is here for us to salivate over. Every plot thread and twist is recreated here in a script that does the novel justice. Transferring the book to the screen would have been a daunting task, but Joffé makes it look easy. With the drama, thrills and comedy, the screenplay is a triumph from a gifted screenwriter. Could there be a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in the offing? One can only hope.
Edward Berger’s direction is pitch-perfect. The director captures the beauty of Macau in extraordinary detail. This is a neon-tinged dive into the world of a debt-ridden, drunken, boorish English gambler. And Berger directs it to perfection. From the beauty of the casinos and hotels, all flashing lights and elegance, to the back streets and run-down areas, Berger captures it all with the keen eye of a true auteur. He directs the scenes with panache, eliciting superb performances from every member of his cast, no matter how small their role is. Again, a Best Director nomination may be in the offing.
VERDICT
Edward Berger’s Ballad Of A Small Player is a wonderfully entertaining psychological thriller featuring a brilliant performance from Colin Farrell. It superbly brings Lawrence Osborne’s novel to the screen, resulting in something that deserves to be watched over and over. While it isn’t quite in the same class as the director’s Conclave, it isn’t far off from it. While Conclave is a heavy drama for an evening, here, the film is something to be enjoyed. There is still plenty of drama here, but it has a light-hearted edge that makes it a joy to watch. It is, yet again, a film that deserves a more robust theatrical release instead of going to streaming after two weeks. By giving the film a shortened theatrical release, it denies the film the cinematic place it deserves.
However, it should find its audience easily on streaming platforms. With the talent on show here, the quality of the acting, the superior writing and direction, and the overall enjoyment factor, the film screams quality. While Doyle suffers from a bad run on the cards, the audience will win big with Ballad Of A Small Player. It deals the audience a winning hand throughout, one that will change their entertainment fortunes for the better.
Ballad Of A Small Player is now available to watch on Netflix.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
