Edward Berger is a talented director, as demonstrated by his Academy Award-winning All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave. Colin Farrell is one of our finest actors, able to pull off comedy and drama with equal aplomb. Ballad of a Small Player, from Berger and starring Farel, is unfortunately not the dream vehicle for which either might have hoped. Despite some lovely photography and the setting of Macau, this story of a crook hiding out in the world’s gambling capitol, fails to fully engage with either its many opportunities for something more interesting or even its fine cast, which also includes Tilda Swinton.
While there may be hints of something truly unusual going on, almost supernatural, the film never fully explores what this would mean, either way, in any true sense. Because of this, it becomes a series of narrative and emotional dead ends. While this could be argued to replicate the ways in which the main character has trapped himself, it clearly is not the case. No, the film makers simply do not know what they want to do with everything they have set up.
The one place they do not go, thankfully, is a romantic subplot. While there are hints of something brewing, the film wisely avoids the cliché. It is one of the few saving grace of what is often a slickly made slog. We get little reason, to invest in these characters, who exist mainly to propound on the banality of their lives and the dread in their existence. Romance simply would not fit.
Courtesy Netflix
Do we then get a real thriller, with high stakes? No. Again, this is about a “small player” or someone rather insignificant. This also is not that sort of a film, going more for a character study, but without any real depth. This is a film that seems to be going somewhere, then veers slightly left, before speeding up in a way that shatters the viewers engagement with the film. It then proceeds to make another turn, and speed through that to a truly ho-hum conclusion.
Why, a viewer might ask themselves, does this film need to exist, other than to show off the beauty of one of the most unusual spots in all of the Asian world? Is this a chance for Berger or Farrell to work on themes that have been close to their hearts? Not from here, nor is it a script with any real insight. Indeed, the various twists might not be out of place in a predictable series like Midsummer Murders, with the stakes about as high.
Courtesy Netflix
None of the characters are particularly memorable. As soon as the credits roll, you might recall a name or one complication, but those are no substitutes for real character depth. There is no meat on these bones, and the flavor is working too hard to cover up that deficit. While Berger is a director with a real eye for visual opulence, there is nothing he seems able to do with giving the film another dimension.
Instead, we get a tourists view of Asian culture, and dime story philosophy or psychology, masquerading as moments of importance. As with the earlier Big Bold Beautiful Journey, this film means Colin Farrell has now done two vastly underwhelming works in a row, though he remains someone you are always aware does his best to vest his characters with something by which to remember them. Berger might best be served to try his hand at an entirely different genre and not worry about making grand statements about life and death. He made two films about that, but the script here is a real let down, and he deserves a chance to not be judged by one gorgeous misfire.
GRADE C
Ballad of a Small Player is now streaming on NETFLIX
Sounds passable but potentially interesting