Ballad of a Small Player (2025)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell) is laying 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 (Fala Chen), a casino employee with secrets of her own. However, in hot pursuit is Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton) 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.
- Actors:
- Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton, Alex Jennings, Chik-Ka Lai, Alan K. Chang, Margaret Cheung, Jason Tobin, Fala Chen, Deannie Yip, Selena Fong, Christina Yong, Tsz-Wai Suen, Suki Wong, Yun Kwok Wai, Gary Fong, Ashley Lin, Mel Lau, Tyler Holland, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Ivan Poon
- Directors:
- Edward Berger
- Producers:
- Edward Berger, James Bowsher, Chen-On Chu, James Friend, Ellie Gibbons, Mike Goodridge, Rowan Joffe, Philip Knatchbull, Teresa Moneo, Mark Nolting, Lawrence Osborne
- Writers:
- Rowan Joffe, Lawrence Osborne
- Aka:
- Балада про дрібного гравця
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
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Reviews (2) of Ballad of a Small Player
All Bets Blur at Midnight - Ballad of a Small Player review by griggs
There’s a woozy charm to this one that drew me in straight away. The whole thing feels like falling into a velvet-lined rabbit hole: humid colours, drifting camerawork, and a sense that reality has decided to take the night off. It’s a heady mix—Uncut Gems by way of a midnight fairy tale—yet it never lands the emotional punch it aims for.
Edward Berger shapes a rich character study of desperation and bad bets before the film drifts into a tidy morality tale that clashes with its dreamier instincts. You can feel it reaching for something deeper, only for the final stretch to shrug it all away. Something essential slips through the cracks.
Still, Colin Farrell steadies the whole thing with a wounded, oddly tender turn, while Tilda Swinton glides through like a reassuring apparition. I only wish Fala Chen had more space to shape her character. An intoxicating film of big moods and grand gestures that fades the moment the lights come up.
Intense Drama - Ballad of a Small Player review by GI
An intense and somewhat enigmatic psychological drama set in Macau where a gambling addict, chancer, conman and wanted thief plies his trade running up big debts and finding a weird private investigator on his trail. This character, Riley, is played with equal intensity by Colin Farrell. Riley puts on a faux aristocratic accent and has styled himself as 'Lord Doyle', a high roller, a style that no one else actually buys into. He's borderline suicidal and losing his mental faculties as his past is catching up with him but he's given the chance of redemption by a friendship he finds with one of the money lenders who hang around the casinos (Fala Chen). With her help he gets the opportunity for one last big win. There's some visually impressive scenes of the glitz and glamour of the Macau nightlife and the hazy waterfront. It's a film of grandeur and very emotional performances and only jars with Tilda Swinton's performance as a cartoonish investigator who looks like a skinny old lady from an antique shop. But a film to admire for Farrell's performance.