While relentlessly stylish and boasting an impressive leading performance from Colin Farrell, Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player disappointingly illustrates the pitfalls of adapting a rich, complex novel into a condensed package. One doesn’t need to have read Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel to know that there’s something off about Rowan Joffé’s screenplay for Ballad of a Small Player. Instead of a movie that has rich connections and detail, Ballad of a Small Player is all flash and storytelling gaps that frustratingly make it feel like a half thought out idea for a film and not a fully fleshed out concept.
With slicked back hair, rumpled dress attire, and perpetual perspiration, Farrell stars as Lord Doyle, a man who has devoted his life to gambling and drinking. Although he poses as a man of distinction (right down to his lucky “gambling gloves”), Doyle is a poser and a fraud whose losses are about to catch up in a big way. Currently stranded in the gaming mecca of Macau, Doyle is about to lose his creature comforts and available lines of credit if he doesn’t come up with 350,000 HKD by Tuesday. Facing arrest, deportation, and possibly worse fates, Lord Doyle – like many compulsive addicts – thinks he can win his way out of this mess. With a dogged, but not exactly subtle private detective (a painfully wasted and badly used Tilda Swinton) on his tail, Lord Doyle enters into a partnership with a casino employee (Fala Chen) who has been running her own little loansharking scheme on the side.
But not everything in this neon, mirror, and glass playground is as it appears to be, and Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front, Conclave) makes that fairly obvious and predictable. Ballad of a Small Player builds itself around a big reveal that won’t be too shocking to anyone who has been paying close attention to the time of year when the story is set, or by merely listening along to a requisite “you and I are a lot alike” speech between two of the primary characters. It’s ultimately not the overly telegraphed ending that sinks Berger’s latest, but the lack of any genuine substance to give Ballad of a Small Player any meaning.
Joffé’s script is pointedly bad, an example of an adaptation that includes a good deal of action and explanation, but no human emotion or logical thought whatsoever. In a novel, the writer can include an entire world of inner monologue and thoughts that can help to bolster the action around it. Joffé doesn’t make an attempt to flesh out any of those gaps that can’t be seen on screen. Ballad of a Small Player looks the part every step of the way, but the film shambles its way from moment to moment, never giving the viewer a reason to care about anything that they’re witnessing. It gets the feel of a man hitting rock bottom right on a visual and performative level, thanks largely to Farrell’s willingness to play the fool, but Ballad of a Small Player is one of the emptiest films of the year. It’s not unwatchable, but still a major misfire that leaves one wanting more in every respect.
Ballad of a Small Player is now playing in select theatres, including at TIFF Lightbox in Toronto and VIFF Centre in Vancouver. It streams on Netflix starting October 29, 2025. This film was screened as part of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
