BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER

Germany/UK, 2025, 101 minutes, Colour.

Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton, Fala Chen, Alex Jennings, Tony Lau.

Directed by Edward Berger.

The small player here is a gambler, an addict, a fraudster, conman, posing at times as an English Lord, upper British accent, affluent clothing style and yellow gloves, but, really, an ordinary Irishman. Whether this drama fits the description of the ballad is a significant question. There have been ballads about rogues in the past, about highwaymen, for instance, so here is a realistic/stylised telling the story of this life of the Lord who is just Riley.

The film has been written and directed by German Edward Berger. After a significant career in Germany, he achieved international success with his German Oscar-winning version of All Quiet on the Western Front. His next film was in Britain, his version of Robert Harris’s popular novel of the papacy, Conclave, also an award winner.

In comparison, this ballad is something of a small film.

The setting is Macau, described as the gambling capital of the world, with night light overview scenes that make it resemble an Oriental Las Vegas. While there are many scenes in the narrow streets with touches of poverty, some harsh apartments, and a visit to an island off Hong Kong with wooden houses on the water and wharfs, the overall emphasis is on the lavish, sometimes more than lavish, hotels and casinos, spaciously-appointed rooms, restaurants with expensive a la carte banquet meals, and the vast expanses of the gambling halls themselves. By the end of the film, the audience will feel that they have been immersed in this rather enclosed life of Macau.

And the Simple Player? He is played by Colin Farrell with a blend of quiet, intensity, guile, some moments of conscience, but…

We do hear his back story eventually, no integrity there, robbing a wealthy old woman and absconding to the gambling capitals and  settling in Macau. He passes himself off as Lord Doyle, popular with the staffs until he is unable to pay his debts. We see him particularly unlucky at the baccarat table, trying to outdo a wealthy old lady. He doesn’t. Then an investigator arrives in the unexpectedly strange character, calling herself Betty, really Cynthia, another extraordinary variation in looks, hairstyle, manner of speaking, manner of walking, by Tilda Swinton. (And here a suggestion to wait until some sequences between them during the final credits.)

There is usually some sadness in the ballad. The sadness here focuses on a woman assisting at the tables, giving Riley credit, his following her and her helping him, inviting him to the island where she lives – and, perhaps ballad -like again, falling victim to his cunning and addiction.

Then back to the tables. Back to luxury, symbolised by some surprisingly gluttonous sequences by Riley, continually overreaching, an encounter with another British conman, Adrian (Alex Jennings), building up to 2 climaxes. The first is a $1 million bet at the baccarat table. The second is Riley wandering through the streets during a Chinese celebration and having to face up to reality, the reality which the Gospels long ago asked: what does it profit anyone to gain the world and lose their soul?

1. The director, acclaim? The smaller scale film? International flavour?
2. The Macau settings, the gambling capital, night sequences, day sequences, the overview of the city – Las Vegas -like? The hotels and interiors, the casinos and interiors, the streets? The ferries, to Hong Kong, the island and the sea, the houses on the water? The musical score, at times heavily orchestral, at times quiet?
3. The title, the storytelling, the focus on the character, activities, fate, crises, decisions, a ballad? The inflated title of Lord Doyle? The reality of an Irishman called Riley?
4. Issues of gambling, audience interest, sympathies, Macau, so much gambling, the vast casinos, the clientele, Asia, International? The baccarat tables? The gambling, the amounts of money, winnings, losing, debts, debts accumulating? Sympathy towards gambling and gamblers, addiction – or not?
5. Colin Farrell, presence and performance, as Lord Doyle, British accent, manner, clothes, gloves, hotel, at the baccarat table, the old lady, the challenge, his losing? At the desk, the demand for payment, his excuses? The encouragement of the man at the door? The suggestion for the rainbow casino?
6. The reality of Riley, the posing of Lord Doyle, the revelation of the stealing of the money from the old lady, her wealth, yet the vast amount, travelling, to Macau, his addiction, his behaviour in his room, extravagance, meals and drinking?
7. The encounter with Cynthia Blythe, her name of Betty, her presence, Tilda Swinton’s presence and performance, hairdo, dress, shoes, idiosyncratic? Watching him, the selfir in the elevator? His pursuing her, the confrontation, the camera, the truth about her, her investigation, the company, her threats? His taking the camera, evading her? The deal, the money, the promise of the dance? His disappearance?
8. The presence of Dao Ming? Charming, encouraging him, the money? His going to see her, following her, her apartment, the conversations, the later card about the island, his escaping to the island, her support of him, encouraging him to jump into the water, his waking on the wharf? Going to the house, the locked door, opening it, finding the money, putting it away, then stealing it all, returning to Macau? Carrying the bag’s?
9. The sequences of Riley eating, gourmet, extravagant, likeness, being sick?
10. The encounter with Adrian, the debt? Adrian and his personality, calm, the meal, the conversation, leaving Riley to pay?
11. At the baccarat table, the old lady challenging him, his winning 7 nines in a row, everybody watching, his reputation? Paying off the debt at the hotel?
12. The decision about the one-off game, risking all his money, Adrian and his disguise as a Prince, the tensions of the game, not winning immediately, Riley eventually winning?
13. His talking with the old lady, wanting to find Dao Ming, the revelation of her suicide, lack of money, the background of her family in China? The impact on Riley, responsible for her death?
14. In the celebration, the processions, Riley and his money, his decision to burn the money? Credible for his character? Credible for the theme of the film? And his future…?