Ballad of a Small Player
Mystery Thriller Crime Drama English
Amid the glittering casinos of Macau, a gambler running from his past — and his debts — becomes fascinated by an enigmatic woman at the baccarat table.
| Cast: | Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings, Jason Tobin, Adrienne Lau, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Jessica Lai, Margaret Cheung, Alan K. Chang |
|---|---|
| Director: | Edward Berger |
| Editor: | Nick Emerson |
| Camera: | James Friend |
All Guild Reviews of Ballad of a Small Player
Visually dazzling film never quite hits the emotional jackpot
‘Conclave’ director Edward Berger’s new film stars Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deanie Ip and Alex Jennings.
Edward Berger makes a dramatic and thematic shift from his previous movie Conclave with Ballad of a Small Player. Conclave was a taut, fictional feature about the secretive papal elections at the Vatican. Ballad of a Small Player, which is out on Netflix, is an occasionally tense, atmospheric and over-stylised character study set in Macau’s glittering gambling halls. Adapted by screenwriter Rowan Joffe from Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel, the film explores cycles of addiction and greed against a backdrop of ritual, superstition and neon decadence. Colin Farrell plays Lord Doyle, a British gambler with mounting debts and a troubled past.
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