PLOT: A persistent gambler (Colin Farrell), posing as an English Lord, finds himself in Macau with the regulation closing in and his money owed piling up, all whereas attempting to persuade himself he’s only one huge rating away from making good.
REVIEW: At one level in Edward Berger’s The Ballad of a Small Participant, our anti-hero, Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell), desperately tries to scrounge up some cash to hit the on line casino. He approaches one other expatriate gambler (Alex Jennings, The Crown), who owes him cash. However the smooth-talking con man not solely refuses to pay him, he additionally sticks Doyle with a dinner verify price hundreds—although not earlier than advising him to discover a method to make himself proof against disgrace. The concept, after all, is that in the event you now not really feel disgrace, your conscience won’t ever hassle you.
The central premise of Berger’s movie, nevertheless, is that Lord Doyle—as reprehensible as he’s, being a thief and a liar—is much from proof against disgrace. It’s consuming him alive. The movie follows every week in his life because the fiction he’s been peddling about his aristocratic heritage comes crashing down. Doyle racks up lots of of hundreds of {dollars} in credit score in Macau just because folks consider his façade: the plummy accent, pencil-thin mustache, and sure, even the ascot.
It’s a terrific function for Farrell to sink his tooth into. He’s equally adept at promoting Doyle’s smooth-talking calm and the sweaty desperation that creeps in when he realizes he has nowhere left to run. Whereas some could also be shocked that Berger, after back-to-back epics like his sensible All Quiet on the Western Entrance remake and Conclave, would pivot to a low-key character drama, thematically it’s not such a stretch. Conclave additionally revolved round males grappling with their consciences. In that movie, the conscience received out—right here, not a lot.
Farrell delivers a tour-de-force efficiency, particularly within the tense Baccarat sequences (a recreation he notes has one of the best odds for gamers). The film does a very good job explaining the straightforward mechanics so we are able to comply with Doyle’s spiraling misfortune. He’s ably supported by Chinese language movie star Fala Chen (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), who performs a mortgage shark drawn into Doyle’s orbit, simply as determined in her personal manner. Their relationship types the center of the story. In the meantime, two Hong Kong legends, Deanie Ip and Anthony Wong, steal scenes as Macau residents Doyle tries to con—solely to seek out himself outwitted. It’s bittersweet to see them on display screen, as each have been blacklisted from Mainland Chinese language productions resulting from their pro-democracy stances. These are giants of cinema compelled to seek out most of their work overseas.
Like Berger’s different movies, Ballad of a Small Participant is gorgeous to have a look at. James Pal’s dazzling cinematography pays homage to Christopher Doyle, whereas Volker Bertelmann’s rating is intentionally over-the-top, mirroring the grandeur and extra of Macau, the “Las Vegas of Asia.” Tilda Swinton additionally pops up in a small however potent function as an investigator on Doyle’s path, a determine insufferably trustworthy from his perspective.
Whereas not as easy as Conclave, this movie dips into surrealism and ends on a word that’s open to interpretation (although the final word decision is subtly telegraphed early on). The Ballad of a Small Participant is darkly humorous, richly atmospheric, and extremely entertaining. It might be a minor entry in Berger’s rising filmography, however it feels destined to construct a cult following—particularly if he continues his ascent as one in all at present’s most essential filmmakers.
