Ballad of a Small Player
“Ballad of a Small Player” was already in the offering when director Edward Berger earned his second straight Best Picture nomination with “Conclave,” following “All Quiet on the Western Front,” but this feels very much like the type of film a director is afforded to make when they’re on a run. Those can be dicey situations; will it be another out of the park sensation, or will it be something weirder, more personal? Berger opts for the latter, and it’s an interesting juggling act seeing how he goes for something different here.
As with his last two films, “Ballad of a Small Player” is based on a novel, this time a 2014 novel by Lawrence Osborne. It tells the story of a con man who, after stealing millions from a wealthy old woman in England, is now in Macau. He has faked his own death, and now goes by the name Lord Doyle. This is Colin Farrell’s character. He comes off as a man of wealth and status, but he’s on his last amount of money at the casinos. One day, he goes into one off the strip, and- after losing some more- he is offered a line of credit from the madame in charge, Dao Ming (Fala Chen). They share a connection, but at the same time he realizes that he’s being followed by a private detective (Tilda Swinton), who is responsible for getting the money back to the old woman. Will Doyle’s luck change? Or will it finally run out?
The screenplay by Rowan Joffe (“The American,” “28 Weeks Later”) is one that we would fully expect from an independent film that gives a great character actor a chance to flourish, not necessarily a movie from a filmmaker and studio coming off of Oscar nominations. This is a convoluted film as it digs into the psychological struggles of Doyle’s existence at this time, but I don’t know if I’d say it’s a successful one. Where this film does succeed is in giving Farrell a chance to go wild as an actor. I don’t know if I would say that this is in the upper tier of his performances, but Farrell is definitely having a lot of fun in this role. The character, and story, comes to life in his scenes with Chen, who has a striking beauty, and haunted melancholy to her- in a way, she is as trapped in her life as Doyle is. Swinton is also entertaining, but Farrell and Chen seem to understand the heart of this film, sometimes better than Joffe and Berger do. Berger’s filmmaking is strong, once again (and he keeps the film at a brisk 102 minutes), but “Ballad of a Small Player” doesn’t have the same intensity and energy as his last two films. Thankfully, it does have a lead performance that understands the energy the film needs.
