Under Macau’s flickering neon and the clatter of roulette wheels, Edward Berger returns with “Ballad of a Small Player,” a high-stakes descent into vice and hallucination. The trailer introduces Colin Farrell as Lord Doyle, a gambler with a fading fortune and a haunted past, whose salvation may lie in the shadowy corners of the city he once sought refuge in.
READ MORE: Fall 2025 Preview: 61 Movies To Watch
Based on Lawrence Osborne’s novel and adapted by Rowan Joffe, the film pairs Farrell with Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deanie Ip, and Alex Jennings in a story of obsession, risk, and the illusions we chase. As Netflix’s official description puts it, Doyle is “laying low in Macau — spending his days and nights on the casino floors, drinking heavily and gambling what little money he has left,” until he’s offered a lifeline by Dao Ming (Chen), a mysterious casino employee with secrets of her own, while Cynthia Blithe (Swinton) hunts him down (read our review).
Behind the camera, Berger reteams with his All Quiet on the Western Front collaborators — cinematographer James Friend and composer Volker Bertelmann — alongside production designer Jonathan Houlding, costume designer Lisy Christl, and editor Nick Emerson. As Netflix’s Tudum notes, the film promises “a sleek, haunting exploration of luck and loss,” set against the dazzling, hollow grandeur of Macau’s gambling underworld.
Produced by Mike Goodridge, Berger, and Matthew James Wilkinson, “Ballad of a Small Player” premieres at the London Film Festival, opens in select U.S. cinemas on October 15, expands to U.K. and Ireland cinemas on October 17, and streams globally on Netflix starting October 29.
