Fret not, Colin Farrell. I love what you’re doing creatively, and I love who you’re choosing to make movies with. I would have also done another movie with my After Yang director, and the guy who turned the papacy into a pulpy thrill ride. The real heads would have also wanted to spend some time with Margot Robbie in the California hills or partying across Macau; it’s just a bummer that A Big Bold Beautiful Journey and now, this one, Ballad of a Small Player, are the worst movies so far by their great directors. Keep chrunin and burning big guy; maybe do another Brendan Gleeson Martin McDonagh three man weave if you want to feel better? I’m here to support you.
The small player in Edward Berger’s ballad is Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell). Despite that lofty title, Doyle has been a horrific cooler in Macau, and the bills are coming due. Desperate, he begs Dao Ming (Fala Chen) and others like her for lines of credit, and evading other creditors, while keeping up appearances like everything is fine. But all you can eat buffets, bottomless champagne, and sh*tty sleeping schedules in a city that never sleeps isn’t exactly the recipe for success Doyle hopes it would become.
Here’s what I think happened here. Edward Berger pitched the Chinese government to let him bring Colin Farrell to make a film about a gamble in Macau as a premise. They agreed, but told him “you start tomorrow, and have 1 month.” With no script, Berger and writer Rowan Jaffe frantically collaborated with Farrell, and landed on “gambler losing his mind.” Berger, flying high off his recent movie successes, probably talked himself into making this work, finding the story in the middle of filming. He gets to week 3, and is like, “Crap! There’s not a lot here, here.” So that last week Berger does his best to glitz and glam the movie, and make sure he keeps a good relationship with the Chinese government. And, to placate the Netflix execs, the director thought he could, hide the hollowness of his movie with distractions aplenty to keep half paying attention viewers vaguely interested in his story. Sadly, if you’re a big fan of Oscar winner Edward Berger, Ballad of a Small Player is gonna miss the mark, as realize about halfway in this movie doesn’t have any new ideas to bring to the table.
But that pizazz though, is a hella intoxicating drug. No doubt multiple flights to Macau will be booked after anyone who watches Ball of a Small Player. Berger makes Macau look like Lost in Translation meets Las Vegas. It’s this place that can be both rich in culture and rich in glamour, depending on where you’re spending your time. Berger finds every great spot to shoot Colin Farrell around the casino laden skyline: drone shots, water backdrops, wandering through the buildings, via limo, inside, and out. Culturally, we get to experience the fascination of the Festival of the Hungry Ghosts, and Coloanae Island’s beautiful fishing and natural landscapes when we need to not have a heart attack at the tables for a while. And despite the shallow nature of the story, Colin Farrell really is selling the hell out of his descent into desolation. It’s madcap frenetic acting, proving as I believe, that the sign of a great actor is making a bad movie watchable. You won’t care about Edward Berger’s story, but you will be captivated by the way he’s telling it.
Quite the prophetic title, Ballad of a Small Player. What seemed like big Oscar ambitions are actually anything but. Take a little more time on your next one, Edward Berger. And give Colin Farrell another chance please? I like the two of you together, but let’s try something with deeper material for him to sink his teeth into, instead of a giant caviar laden buffet table like this one.