“Ballad of a Small Player” is a bland tale, despite the ensemble’s efforts.
“Ballad of a Small Player” is a bland tale, despite the ensemble’s efforts.
A fever-dreamscape saturated with teal velvets and orange neon signs, the Macau, China backdropping “Ballad of a Small Player” is an eccentric hell for Lord Doyle, a high-stakes gambler swerving the monetary and moral tolls of his racking debts.
Director Edward Berger returns off the Academy Award win-streak of his 2024 papal thriller “Conclave” with this adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel “The Ballad of a Small Player.” While both book-to-screen films feature distinguished casts and ominous soundtracks, Berger’s most recent venture folds in the wake of its predecessor.
Despite Doyle’s swindling an elderly woman, evading British law enforcement and assuming a falsely confident, baccarat-obsessed persona, the biggest on-screen crime is the story’s utter dullness.
Even as the gambler haunts high-profile casinos, betting his fate on a game of pure luck, the stakes aren’t compelling enough to grip viewers for the full hour and 40 minute runtime.
Carefully maximal sets feel as counterfeit as Doyle’s wealth, driving a sense that no emotional grit could roughen this world stripped of humanity and reclothed in a lackluster coat made out of Netflix checks.
Colin Farrell’s ambitious depiction of the protagonist’s descent into chaos is appropriately anguished, fighting to highlight complexities buried in underwhelming action and dialogue. The static characterization makes clear much nuance was lost in translation from the source material’s prose.
Talented supporting cast members Fala Chen, Deanie Ip and Tilda Swinton are always in step with the eager efforts of Farrell (“The Batman,” “The Banshees of Inisherin”), though are similarly limited by flat characterization.
As Dao Ming, an unofficial broker manning treacherous tables, Chen (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Heart of Greed”) is bewitching and bleak. Without deep exploration of the motivation behind the mystifying character’s enigmatic aid to Doyle, though, she comes across more manic pixie dream girl than woeful kindred spirit.
The always otherworldly Swinton (“The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”) adds an out-of-place levity as Betty, a British woman hunting down Doyle — the manifestation of the relentless life he ran from.
Equipped with a frumpy haircut and social ineptitudes, Betty strangely evokes an Emma Stone character from Saturday Night Live with comedic flair that detracts from the film’s uneasy thriller heartbeat already fighting to be sustained. The distraction proves a grave waste of an immensely skilled character actor.
Blunders in characterization could’ve been overlooked if the plot was anymore engaging in its themes of greed, anonymity, reconciliation and retribution.
Instead, Doyle’s desperate attempts to escape the eternal repercussions his greed incurred are seemingly motivated by fear of damnation rather than genuine remorse, undercutting the film’s emotional impact and central message.
In this way, the movie doesn’t seem to give its protagonist much of a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the audience. Even Farell’s trustworthy charm can’t compel empathy for his insatiable character.
The “Small Player” is a big loser who, despite clamorous attempts at reconciling his avarice and many successful baccarat coups, can’t seem to win the audience over.
“Ballad of a Small Player” is available to stream on Netflix.
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