Ballad of a Small Player premiered at this year’s London Film Festival. Here are my thoughts.
Waking up from a luxurious hotel suite in Macau, Colin Farrell plays a high-class gentleman, Lord Doyle, who spends most of his time at the baccarat table in the casinos. Soon it becomes clear how fake he is beneath his peacock-green velvet suit and yellow Savile Row gloves. Under Lord Doyle’s reckless gambling, he has racked up massive debts to the hotel and is on the verge of being kicked out. Meanwhile, the arrival of Cynthia Blithe, played by Tilda Swinton, begins to uncover more about Lord Doyle’s past.
After a streak of misfortune, the protagonist encounters Dao Ming (Fala Chen), an employee in the casino who also runs a loan sharking business. With her help and guidance, he ultimately manages to turn the tables both in the game and in life, finding a path toward redemption.
The film is heavily Chinese-coded. You can tell just from the poster. Right next to the English title, its Chinese title Xiao Ren Wu Zhi Ge is just as prominent. Most of the scenes are shot in Macau and Hong Kong. The director portrays Macau as a luxurious city with no soul, which feels quite accurate. As neon lights shine through the casinos, the film draws you into a bizarre world and into Doyle’s near-mad state of mind. Yet the city isn’t all luxury; we also see the crowded streets and old residential buildings when Doyle follows Dao Ming into the “real” Macau. The contrast reveals the contradictory lifestyles in the city and reflects the struggles of working-class locals like Dao Ming.
While I really enjoyed Fala Chen’s performance. She’s definitely one of the most promising Hong Kong actresses in Hollywood right now, especially after her role in Shang-Chi. She also appeared in Lucky Lu, another film that had its UK premiere at LFF this year. I was even more excited to see the appearance of OG Hong Kong actors Deanie Ip and Anthony Wong. Still, all the Chinese characters feel somewhat stereotypical and mainly serve as tools for Farrell’s character.
As one of the main supporting roles, Fala’s Dao Ming exists mostly to help Doyle and ultimately guide him toward change, but she lacks her own motivation. We know little about Dao Ming’s backstory, which makes it sometimes confusing to understand why she’s there for Doyle at all.
Despite all the glamorous sets and the wonderful performance, the film feels as shallow as the city it portrays, and as Lord Doyle himself. The biggest issue lies in its unclear intention. As the story develops, Lord Doyle becomes an increasingly unpleasant character: he is arrogant, ignorant, and insatiable. He’s so hard to like that the film really needs a much stronger turning point to make his redemption believable.
Simply using an Asian woman as a tool for his transformation is not enough.
Releasing in select UK and Ireland cinemas on October 17, ahead of it’s release on Netflix on October 29.
