TELLURIDE – Over the past few years, Edward Berger has proven to be a chameleon of a filmmaker in a manner few of his peers can match. Considering his artistic heights so far, “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Conclave,” that’s meant as a compliment. The German-born filmmaker has an innate ability to twist his style to the material, and in a manner far more pronounced than some of the best directors of television who hop from show to show. It’s therefore disheartening to report that his latest endeavor, “Ballad of a Small Player,” might have been an intriguing fit on paper, but turns out to be somewhat of a waste of his talents on screen.
Whatever aesthetic he chooses, Berger’s strengths have always been his strong cinematic eye and his ability to cast great actors and let them run with it. In “Ballad,” a world premiere at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival, he has a star always willing to commit in Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton, who rarely picks the wrong project, and Fala Chen, who, despite an impressive resume, will finally earn a well-deserved spotlight. And the material, an adaptation of Lawrence Osborne‘s 2014 novel of the same name by filmmaker and screenwriter Rowan Joffé, seems ripe for, at a minimum, a compelling portrait of a serial gambler at the end of his rope.
And yet, no.
Lord Doyle (Farrell) isn’t fooling anyone except the Macau casinos eager to run his bill up to extreme tallies. With his velour suits and fake Savile Row gloves, he’s about as royal as a bottle of Canadian whiskey. And despite Farrell’s efforts, he doesn’t seem to exude a convincing charismatic demeanor, either. It doesn’t take long to discover our Lord is a hot and cold gambler and on a very bad streak.
The beginning of the city’s annual Ghost Festival is about to begin and the Lord, whose real name is Riley, is being haunted by debts at the casino and from abroad. When a casino representative, Dao Ming (Chen) offers Riley to extend his credit, he immediately senses a kindred spirit (or perhaps it’s his addictive desperation). After one of her clients jumps to his death, Riley helps her escape the victim’s angry wife. The pair spends the night walking the city, forming as close to a bond as a con man like Riley will allow. When Riley wakes up that morning on a seaside bench, Dao is nowhere to be seen.
Our hero, if he can even be called that, finds his world closing in on him when he learns Cynthia Blithe (Swinton), is a private investigator hired to reclaim over 800,000 pounds he stole from a retiree back in the U.K. He has 24 hours to pay off her debt before she calls the police and has him deported home. He has 3 days to pay off another casino before they call the authorities. He crashes. He flees. And Dao shows up, like a miracle, to give him refuge. Or does she?
Reuniting with his “All Quiet” cinematographer, Berger and James Friend have a blast playing with all the inherently visual aspects of an over-the-top spectacle such as Macau. And despite how much it resembles its sister city, Las Vegas, it’s still a locale rarely seen in Hollywood movies or television programs. It also doesn’t hurt to have Volker Bertelmann back as a composer, and his score propels the movie through its early borderline cliche plot points.
Despite a “you can see it coming” final baccarat game in the third act, designed to crowd-please, it all somehow feels flat and generic. And, worse, decidedly not fresh. And when even the effervescent Swinton seems out of place, something is off. But Farrell genuinely gives it his all for a character we are never given a reason to root for, Hong Kong star Deanie Ip steals every scene she’s in as a catty high roller nicknamed Grandma, and it might make you want to visit Hong Kong. Maybe that’s enough. Maybe it’s not. [C]
“Ballad of a Small Player” will screen in theaters on Oct 15. It will debut on Netflix on Oct. 29.
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