Ballad of a Small Player Movie Review:

Edward Berger's Ballad of a Small Player talks about how, when someone loses their grip on reality, they become a wandering ghost. The film explores this idea through Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell), a man who gambles his days at Macau, Hong Kong, after running away from his past. He loses his grip on the present, with his past catching up to him, all while gambling his future away.

Director: Edward Berger

Cast: Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings

As Lord Doyle, Farrell transforms into a man whose hedonism is a temporary fix to a lack of self motivation. Doyle never moved on from his impoverished childhood and compensates for it by living big, even though he doesn't have the financial foundation to do so. His overindulgence directly feeds into stress, which in turn provides him with a temporary motivation to run from his present situation. Farrell portrays the character's overindulgence with a nuanced accuracy, which does not let you take your eyes away from the screen. The tragic nature of Doyle's overindulgence in gambling, food, or even an elite lifestyle, is a mark of the character's refusal to let go of his past, which is carried throughout the film with great finesse by Farrell.

Ballad of a Small Player also tells a thematic visual story that represents the life of excess in every shot. Through the lens of cinematographer James Friend, coupled with the intricate set and costume design, the film holds your breath, in a rightfully constricting way, to drive its theme of nauseating overindulgence. In moments where Doyle chooses to run away from his current situation, a wide shot is used to establish the futility of the act. In each of the shots, the sets and costumes stand out uniquely, like separate characters.

While the film tells a solid story, it does not connect with the viewer. Going all in on over indulgence ends up creating a world where the viewer is confused as to whether to root for a man desperately trying to redeem himself or to learn from the failing of a degenerate. Even as Farrell convincingly portrays Lord Doyle's emotions, you are left wondering if Doyle will redeem himself or will fall back into the rabbit hole. The unreliability of the character results in the disconnect, where the viewer has to constantly wait for the moment when Doyle lets go of his self-destructing ways, leading to frustration.

Ballad of a Small Player also edges out into the supernatural territory by blurring the lines for Lord Doyle. The scenes where Doyle grapples with reality are engaging to watch. While the film could have explored its themes with more detail, it still engages through an incisive character study of its protagonist and comes across as an intellectual thought experiment with wavering results.