I don't want to be rude about Colin Farrell, someone I have loved onscreen more and more with every step he moved away from typical blockbuster lead roles, but I am more impressed with his role in Ballad Of A Small Player for his ability to portray what, at times, would seem to be a past incarnation of himself. Farrell has been sober for many years now, and massive congratulations to him for that, but he's been very open about the many wild nights in his past. I wondered if he was experiencing déjà vu here whenever his character would wake up groggy and anxious after some time spent spending too much money and drinking too much alcohol. I mention this not just because of the behaviour displayed onscreen. It's the tone. Ballad Of A Small Player is all about a man who believes that one lucky break is just around the corner, yet also knows that he is being driven by desperate addictive impulses that could just as easily lead to him dying before he gets the chance to see any uptick in his fortunes.
Farrell is Lord Doyle, if we're to believe how he presents himself. He's a gambler who enjoys placing large bets and living the high life. He's had a recent run of bad luck though, which forces those around him to place a timeline on some debts. Doyle encounters kindness and generosity from Dao Ming (Fala Chen), but he has to make a decision on whether to accept her help to move away from his life of gambling or to make use of her kindness to facilitate his path to that one big win he can sense heading his way. It doesn't help that he's also being watched by Blithe (Tilda Swinton), someone who has been tasked with tracking him down and reclaiming some major past debt.
Adapted into screenplay form from Lawrence Osborne's novel by Rowan Joffe, Ballad Of A Small Player actually has a lot in common with one or two other gambling films I could mention, but just mentioning those might allow you to start predicting how things will end for the main character. So I'm not going to do that. There's a whole lot of anxiety running throughout the film, and even any unexpected victories in the casinos feel fragile and temporary, considering the nature of the main character.
Director Edward Berger is three for three when it comes to the features that he's helmed over the past five years, and I'm keen to see if he can keep up this hot streak to put himself in contention for the director with the most consistently superb output throughout this decade. While it's ultimately a slightly lesser film than his previous two outings, being an inessential character piece, as opposed to a rumination on the hell of war or a murder mystery aiming to shake the pillars of Catholicism, Berger treats it with no less care. This is grandiose, operatic even, and every viewer is masterfully taken through a variety of ups and downs as if attached by a safety wire to some member of Cirque du Soleil.
Despite the occasional (apparent) lapse in his upper-class British accent, and nothing here is without an explanation, Farrell is superb in the lead role, all flop-sweat and faux-graciousness as he keeps looking around his environment for various escape routes and gambling opportunities. He's the star, and his charisma is put to great use throughout. It's impressive that Chen makes such a strong impression, considering how often she has to share the screen with Farrell while she's the calming presence to his manic aura. Swinton gives one of her fine supporting turns, and is especially delightful in the third act, and both Deanie Ip and Alex Jennings are worth mentioning as individuals who may succeed in tempting Farrell's character to make the one bet that finally destroys him.
I enjoyed this, I was stressed out by it, and I am conflicted by the ending, which is actually a better outcome than the one I expected. It's a small-scale and low-key film that feels huge and bombastic. It taps into that rollercoaster of highs and lows that I am sure every gambler knows is the rhythm of their life, for better or worse.
8/10
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