In the opening moments of Edward Berger‘s new film, Ballad Of A Small Player, Colin Farrell, as a con man hiding from his past in Macau, groggily tries to climb out of bed, rubbing his eyes, and simply says, “Oh, f*ck!”
It is a great beginning, even if it did remind me of myself after the alarm rudely awakened me at 7:30 a.m. for this 9:00 a.m. screening after being up until 2:15 a.m. writing my Hamnet review. Nevertheless, it got my attention and this wild ride of a movie, which had its World Premiere this weekend at the Telluride Film Festival, had me addicted at hello.
It is in fact about a guy who is an addict — not drugs, but gambling. He is carrying on in Macau, China’s answer to Las Vegas but probably ten times as intense, as a “British aristocrat” named Lord Doyle. He is anything but, and has been on a severe losing streak, virtually down to nothing and now presented with a hotel bill for $145,000 HKD with only three days to pay. This thief and con man by trade knows he can’t get in trouble or lose his false identity because he is seriously running from the law back home in the U.K., where he cost an older woman all of her considerable savings, all of which he apparently blew on Baccarat, his game of choice.
Unable to afford even an Uber, the valet suggests another hotel which still might offer him credit, even if it sounds a bit shady. He goes there and makes a deal with Dao Ming, a savvy employee who actually has much in common with Doyle, but a sharper grasp on her life. They bond, but as Doyle goes back to the tables, it appears much hasn’t changed. In a quick repeated shot, we see someone who appears to be him walk straight out the window and jump. Later, in the parking lot, it is shown not to be him but another gambler who landed flat on a car, dead, with his wife hysterically blaming Dao Ming for loaning him money to continue his habit.
Into the picture comes Britisher Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton), looking like a tourist but stalking Doyle. He knows her number and accuses her – correctly as it turns out – of being a private eye sent to get his photo and give him a matter of 24 hours to come up with the cash he bilked out of the woman. The cat-and-mouse game between this pair begins as he needs to get out of Macau or face arrest, the best way being to take a boat across the channel to Hong Kong.
In Berger’s (Conclave, All Quiet on the Western Front) frenetic and at times psychedelic style, Doyle is spinning out of control, desperate, with increasing levels of sweat and angst, paying a visit to a fellow con artist, Adrian Lippett (Alex Jennings), who owes him $8,000. He gets only $2,000 but at a dinner, Lippett cries poor and stiffs Doyle with the check, taking him back to zero. He just can’t win, can he? BTW, it isn’t the end of Lippett in the story crafted by Rowan Joffe from Lawrence Osborne’s novel, and his reappearance drew a big laugh in my Telluride audience. And the tide does finally turn for Doyle, who suddenly maneuvers a win streak like no other (the final drawn-out unveiling of a winning card is suspensefully played out to the absurd max), leading to a grotesque one-man-food-eating-and-money-stashing-orgy in his hotel room. Or did it?
The questions about all of this, right from the start, are: What is real, and what isn’t? Is it all a dream, the hallucinations of an addict? Was it Doyle who did jump? Are any of these characters real, or just in the imagination of a crumbling gambler falling deeper into the rabbit hole à la Burt Lancaster’s slow mental breakdown in The Swimmer? Berger and Jaffe make it all a fun guessing game, but it is Farrell living Doyle’s twisted personality, who makes us have some empathy and root for his redemption. This is a tour de force performance, one of the best screen outings for the actor who, after his Emmy nomination for another tour de force as Penguin, is on a roll. He carries this film like Newman in The Hustler, Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid. You can’t take your eyes off him.
Swinton as usual is wonderful in a role created for the film that wasn’t in the book. Her negotiations with Doyle are hilarious, and his responses are priceless, even suggesting they go to the ballroom and “dance.” Not to give anything away, but this is one movie where the payoff for that suggestion means Netflix won’t be able to cut off the end credits for a change.
The real find here may be Fala Chen who makes Dao Ming complex, alluring, fascinating and heartbreaking all at once. She and Farrell have great chemistry, but it might be she can’t save him or herself despite good intentions as she describes her own life in an effort to help him. Another highlight is seeing Hong Kong acting icon, Deanie Ip having a ton of fun as “Grandma,” a billionaire old lady who just loves her Baccarat and constantly wins against the hapless Doyle, promising to collect “his balls” as she lures him into just one more game. It is a deliciously fun extended cameo.
Another star here is Macau itself, making this the first major foreign production allowed to shoot in the intriguing island where this gaudy Vegas-y city exists like a mirage from across the isle in a monsoon-soaked companion village that houses the Portuguese immigrants. Macau here really seems like an illusion, a Chinese Brigadoon that maybe was there or wasn’t for Lord Doyle. Cinematographer James Friend captures all of it with brilliant color and fast-moving camera work. Some shots are stunning, especially one overhead of a huge but empty cafe where Doyle is the only customer, a perfect example of the loneliness this city produces, despite its fantastical promise of great wealth. Costumes by Lisy Christl and ace production design by Jonathan Houlding add to the visual splendor. Volker Bertelmann’s dramatic scoring also tells us much is not subtle in this lost world.
“Oh F*ck!” indeed.
Producers are Mike Goodridge, Berger and Matthew James Wilkinson.
Title: Ballad Of A Small Player
Festival: Telluride Film Festival
Distributor: Netflix
Release Date: In select theaters Oct. 15; streaming Oct. 29
Director: Edward Berger
Screenplay: Rowan Joffe
Cast: Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton, Fala Chen, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings
Running Time: 1 hour and 41 minutes
