The latest from Conclave and All Quiet on the Western Front director Edward Berger is a more modest affair, as it’s name implies. It’s a surreal Oriental noir, set in the present but harking back to vintage Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Colin Farrell dons a pencil moustache and a velvet suit as Lord Freddy Doyle, an aristocratic gambler on a long losing streak in Macau. With his line of credit running out and a mysterious agent on his tail (Tilda Swinton), Freddy seeks a desperate pact with casino hostess Dao Ming (Fala Chen).
Berger and Oscar-winning cinematographer James Friend transform Macau into a shimmering dream state, where nothing is quite what it seems.
Ballad of a Small Player is a trippy, psychedelic anxiety attack held together by Farrell’s extraordinary performance and Berger’s precise eye.
Mark Johnson, Awards Watch
Operatic… made with force and finesse.
Benjamin Lee, The Guardian
Edward Berger
Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, Tilda Swinton, Deannie Yip, Alex Jennings
USA
2025
English
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Credits
Executive Producer
Jeanne Tremsal, Luke Rivett, Mark Nolting, Rowan Joffe, Lawrence Osborne, Ellie Gibbons
Producer
Mike Goodridge, Edward Berger, Matthew James Wilkinson
Screenwriter
Rowan Joffe
Cinematography
James Friend
Editor
Nick Emerson
Original Music
Volker Bertelmann
Production Design
Jonathan Houlding
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