Ballad of a Small Player

TIFF REVIEW: BY KURT MORRISON

September 21, 2025

3 OUT OF 5 STARS

I think everyone needs to understand that sometimes Hollywood A-Listers just want to make something that doesn’t pack grandiose expectations or award caliber content. ‘Tis the situation with Netflix’s Ballad of A Small Player, which has been absolutely ripped apart post TIFF and I don’t understand all the hate, because this is an incredibly fun and easy watch from three incredibly talented individuals.

Written by Rowan Joffé, based on Lawrence Osborne's 2014 novel The Ballad of a Small Player, the film centers around Lord Doyle, played by the ever engaging Colin Farrell, who spends his nights drinking and gambling in the city of Macau to a point of blacking out, only to repeat the whole process the next day. Dressed to kill and as dapper as they get, it’s clear Doyle loves the attention he receives throughout Macau with his flashy suits and slicked back hair, yet is in over his head with his money dwindling away and his debts slowly rising. Struggling to keep his head above water, he is offered a lifeline by the mysterious Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a casino employee with secrets of her own. And to only complicate things more, Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton) – a private investigator from London, England - is hot on Doyle’s trail, threatening to expose him and have him extradited back to England with the help of law enforcement.

The film looks beautiful and has a fun, fast pace to it that never really breathes for a second and that is thanks to the incredible cinematography and direction by the Oscar nominee pairing of cinematographer James Friend and director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front). I am a HUGE fan of director Edward Berger’s recent works, as both Conclave and All Quiet on The Western Front were in my top 5 favourite films of their respective release years and Berger is an incredibly hot commodity right now, with his name having been in the running for sequels to the Ocean’s 11 and Jason Bourne franchises, while continuing to produce several projects in both Hollywood and Europe. Berger has been on fire lately and it’s great to see him continue to bear such Oscar-fare, and admittedly, this is not of the same quality or story telling standard at either Conclave or All Quiet on The Western Front but that does not mean its a bad movie.

But therein lies my defense for this movie, because Farrell, Chen, Swinton and Director Edward Berger are all clearly having a blast making this movie, and it shows in the performances, the camera work and just the overall tone of the film. As I mentioned, it’s not as spectacular as Conclave or Quiet, but it’s a damn fun mystery that never felt boring during its 102 minute runtime.

Farrell’s performance as Lord Doyle is as funny as it is slimy, with a touch of heartbreaking. It’s hard to be likable as an addict, and quite frankly at no point do you care to see Doyle get out of debt because he is a liar and a cheat. Your feelings for him only get more complicated when the enormity of his past and crimes catch up to him and you realize how much of an actual piece of shit he is. But Farrell sells it, and sells it well. There is a sense of gluttony and ego to Farrell’s character of Doyle that makes your skin crawl for 99% of the film and I might be crossing a line in saying this but being a former addict himself probably came in useful for once, because there is an ability to harken back to how bad things can feel when you’re in way over your head with addiction. Farrell has been having a stretch of roles lately that have put him into that upper stratosphere of A-Lister male actors in Hollywood and this role is another positive note to his ever impressive resume.

The same can be said for the wonderful Tilda Swinton. Swinton is here to have fun, and although she isn’t given a huge piece of this storytelling pie, she still chews up every single scene she is in, especially when she is quarrelling one on one with Colin. We got to watch two of the UK’s absolute best actors go toe-to-toe on screen and I loved every second of it.

The Ballad of A Small Player ain’t here to get nominated for a slew of awards, but it is a damn fun movie from Netflix going into the latter half of 2025. All the TIFF slander it has been receiving is crazy to me, but I get it when people have such lofty expectations of Hollywood’s elites. The runtime makes this an easy watch and may even teach you a thing of two about the inner workings of Casinos and Gambling. I’M NOT the gambling type, so watching someone implode their imaginary life is more appealing to me then going out to the casino myself.