Title – Ballad of a Small Player (2025)

Director – Edward Berger (Conclave)

Cast – Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton, Fala Chen

Plot – Gambling addict Lord Doyle (Farrell) finds his hard and fast lifestyle and spiralling debts catching up with him on an eventful stay in the gamblers paradise that is Macau.

“I’ve made some mistakes, right? Who hasn’t?”

Review by Eddie on 17/11/2025

With his previous two feature films being Oscar heavyweights and audience favourites All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, there was reason why this otherwise small-seeming Netflix original was on many keen viewers radar as a film to watch in 2025.

Collaborating with the recently on a hot streak Collin Farrell, who sadly crashed back down to earth with his recent Margot Robbie co-starring dud A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey, director Edward Berger and his screenwriter Rowan Joffe adapt Lawrence Osborne’s novel of the same name into a cold, messy and uninviting experience that struggles to focus or give us a reason to care.

Based around Farrell’s manipulating gambler Lord Doyle, a man who has clearly lost track of reality and who he is after a wild period of high-stakes gambling, Ballad gives Farrell one of his worst roles in years which is a huge disappointment as the revived Irish star is more than capable in a range of capacities but his screen presence and natural charisma is hard to find here in what amounts to a wide-eyed performance full of sweat and racing around but little in the way of meaningful interactions or character development.

The film certainly looks fantastic, as has been the case for Berger’s last few films with his Western Front D.O.P James Friend on hand here while Berger’s regular composing collaborator Volker Bertelmann is back for more but outside of a shiny sheen and proficient polish, Ballad feels like an empty vessel with nothing of note to say and very little in the way of entertainment to offer its viewers.

Ballad eventuates into a strange career move from Berger, with Osborne’s source novel far from a critically lauded book overall and after his stunning work on Western Front and the surprisingly grand Conclave, Ballad feels like a major step backwards for the filmmaker who one can only hope finds his mojo again with his Brad Pitt starring Tim Winton adaptation The Riders scheduled for release next year.

A major disappointment for all involved, Ballad marks itself down as one of Netflix’s newest duds after a string of an above average run for the streaming giant who finally seemed to have nailed their original film offerings.

Final Say –

Looking the part but failing to provide anything of much substance or intrigue, Ballad of a Small Player is a curiously lacking new feature from Edward Berger who had become one of the industry’s strongest voices in the space of a few years.

2 red suits out of 5