Mick Jordan Rolls the dice with his review of Ballad of a Small Player.
There is a famous story that George Best used to tell about a bellboy seeing him in his hotel room after a big win in a casino. Looking at the wads of cash on the bed, the empty bottles of champagne on the floor, and the large quantities of expensive food everywhere, the bellboy said, “Oh George, where did it all go wrong?”.
In one scene in Ballad of a Small Player, you can understand where he comes from. After winning big, Lord Doyle - aka Brendan Thomas Reilly (Colin Farrell) - has gorged himself on champagne, lobster, and thick slices of Black Forest gâteau. He looks worse than at any previous point in the film - and, let me assure you, he looked quite bad, quite often.
Reilly is a fraudster on the run, hiding out in Macau, where he has gambled away all the stolen money that led him to flee justice in the first place. He adopted the name and the plummy accent of a wealthy British peer as his disguise. However, he’s not fooling anyone. In fact, Reilly has now racked up so many debts, he is banned from every gambling establishment in the city - except one. When he starts to lose heavily there too, Reilly is given an extra line of credit by the hostess Dao Ming (Fala Chen) and promptly loses that as well. Naturally, at the first opportunity he does a runner, but he later, (literally), takes the hit for Ming. A bond forms between the duo; Reilly resolves to clean up his act and she promises to help him.
Ballad of a Small Player is a Netflix film that truly deserves to be seen on the big screen. Director Edward Berger and his cinematographer James Friend take full advantage of their chosen location. Macau is a city of endless dazzling light - none of it natural. It is all garish, multi-coloured neon, emphasised even more by the cinematic heavy rainfall that accompanies moments of heightened emotion. Striking visual set pieces are becoming Berger trademarks; in Conclave, he had a sea of cardinals in their ceremonial reds come together to form a pattern. Here, he has Colin Farrell racing through a vast dry-cleaning warehouse as carousels of shrink-wrapped laundry swirl above his head. The gaming halls are filled with vibrant primary colours, every bit as loud as the thumping soundtrack by Volker Bertelmann.
Everything in this film is noisy - including Reilly himself. Farrell does not hold back in his performance. He is full-on in his portrayal of a broken man desperately trying to get that one break to sort everything out. But for all the grossness and debauchery of Lord Doyle, the vulnerable, lost soul of Reilly always stares through. And it is Farrell’s hint of subtlety that allows you to see him; Reilly is a very sympathetic character, and this is a redemption story about a character you genuinely want to see saved.
The supporting roles are well cast; it’s just unfortunate that they don’t get enough screen time to properly develop. Tilda Swinton, as the quirky private investigator chasing Doyle, never quite establishes herself. Fala Chen, as Dao Ming, is radiant, and you can fully understand why Reilly is so keen to find her. When she disappears, she is missed.
Endlessly entertaining and always engrossing, Ballad of a Small Player follows a fairly predictable path. Early on, the film establishes that something terribly mysterious is going on. This is such a familiar trope that the viewer won't be left asking “What will it be?” Rather “What will it be this time?”. While this particular mechanism might be a MacGuffin, there to facilitate an intriguing character study set against a lush dramatic backdrop, it’s still worth the gamble.
Ballad of a Small Player is available to stream on Netflix 29th October 2025.
