Film Review – Ballad of a Small Player

October 30th, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

One of the defining traits of noir is desperation. Characters are pushed to the brink – whether to escape danger, gain power, gain respect, gain love, or to fill a hole inside of themselves. They get pushed into a corner, to the point that they compromise themselves to get out. That is one of the many reasons noir has lived on in the movies, because it asks us what we would do if we were stuck in a similar situation. In that way, Ballad of a Small Player (2025) works. It is filled to the brim with desperate people whose lives are a mess, often because of their own doing. But whatever potential there is gets wasted with a narrative that doesn’t go anywhere substantial. This has all the ingredients for a great movie, but it doesn’t congeal well enough to get there.

A shame, given the level of talent assembled. Director Edward Berger comes off two critically acclaimed outings with All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) and Conclave (2024). And Colin Farrell continues to show he is one of the best actors working today, willing to take on roles that showcase his incredible range. Sadly, despite their best efforts, the film sinks the further along it goes. Screenwriter Rowan Joffe (adapting the novel by Lawrence Osborne) starts off with a promising beginning – putting us into the world of high stakes gambling under the bright lights of Macau, China. The colorful back alleys, luxurious hotels, glittery casinos, and neon-tinged street signs create an otherworldly environment. But once we settle into the story, we find that everything exists on a surface level. When the writing and direction try to explore the human element is when things fall apart.

Farrell stars as “Lord” Doyle, a man who presents himself as a classy member of the upper class. Sporting slicked back hair, a thin mustache, and fancy suits, Doyle tries to come off as sophisticated. In reality, he is the opposite. Doyle is a phony – a gambling addict and petty criminal, who has come to Macau to evade capture for stealing money back in London. But his worst compulsions can’t stop him from frequenting the card tables, resulting obscene amount of debt to the casinos. Doyle must find the cash to make up his loses while simultaneously avoiding authorities looking to capture him for his past misdeeds. Hot on his tail is Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton) a private investigator hired to track Doyle down and bring him in. Needless to say: Things aren’t going well for the self-described Lord. The only sense of levity he has is with the casino worker Dao Ming (Fala Chen), whom Doyle finds a kindred spirit in. They connect in how they both feel like lost souls trapped in Macau. 

The biggest positive Ballad has is in the central performance. Farrell once again goes all out in creating a memorable character. He inhabits Doyle with all sorts of odd eccentricities, from wearing leather gloves while gambling, his nervous ticks and mannerisms, to consuming gobs of food when stressed out. As Doyle’s predicament worsens, the bigger Farrell’s performance becomes. He allows the anxiety to seep into the character’s bones, making him physically shake and hyperventilate. We feel the tension through the screen. At a certain point Doyle is so overwhelmed that large beads of sweet appear all over his face. I don’t know how Farrell was able to make himself look so stressed out. At one point, Doyle fears the tension may cause him to have a heart attack, and Farrell makes it appear like it will happen at any moment.

The narrative sets up the stakes well, by having Doyle juggle between multiple forces closing in on him. The claustrophobia is palpable in the beginning stages. However, as the story rambles on, the tension dissipates. Our engagement loosens once we realize that all these separate threads aren’t leading to anywhere impactful. The dynamic between Doyle and Dao Ming, Doyle and Blithe, and Doyle with himself, all flatten out into the second and third acts. There is a noticeably supernatural tone as Doyle’s mental state fractures. He sees nightmarish visions, hinting at how adrift he has become. But because his perspective shifts into the absurd, we no longer have a grip over what is real or imaginary. Maybe that’s the point. Perhaps the film intends to show how the material wealth Doyle obsesses over means nothing if his soul goes unfulfilled. But how that idea plays out on screen is not compelling. The narrative pulls the rug out from under us with surprises that are unneeded and forced.  

In my review of Tron: Ares (2025), I asked if a movie could succeed entirely on its style. In Tron’s case, I argued that it can. In the case of Ballad, it can not. James Friend’s cinematography captures gorgeous images of Macau. Colin Farrell is often pictured in wide angle shots with him right in the hustle and bustle of the city. Whether it is underneath the yellow and red lights of the streets, to the greens and whites of the casinos, Doyle is arranged as a small cog within all the commotion. Some have argued that Berger over-directs and that his style is too flamboyant. However, I found this to be one of the few redeeming qualities. Outside of a musical score that’s too playful compared to the rest of the material, the rapid-fire camerawork and editing at least made the picture easy to look at. It’s too bad the writing was not good enough to keep up.

Ballad of a Small Player is an oddity. It has a lot going for it, particularly on a technical and performance level. But it leaves on such an underwhelming note that we wonder if the journey was worth it. It explores greed, excess, and the desire for human connection. Yet when we walk away, we question if it had anything unique to say about those themes or if it’s just as lost as the characters it depicts.

All Quiet on the Western Front 2022, Ballad of a Small Player, Colin Farrell, Conclave, Edward Berger, Fala Chen, James Friend, Lawrence Osborne, Rowan Joffe, Tilda Swinton, Tron: Ares