In his Ballad of a Small Player review, Christ Harrison praises its “gorgeous cinematography” and calls it “dark but also deeply funny”,
Ballad of a Small Player is ostensibly about a debt-ridden gambler with a false identity on the run from a wily detective (played with a dry wit by Tilda Swinton), but the real mystery (and the thing he’s running from) is something else altogether, something more existential, and the film is all the better for it.
In Ballad, Collin Ferrell plays a man who calls himself Lord Doyle, the self-proclaimed best card player in the world, who is forever in search of his next big win, which seems to always elude him. He’s all bluster, an alcoholic and gambling addict who struts around Macau in gaudy outfits and presents himself with constant braggadocio. Doyle’s a poor man’s idea of a rich man, a tacky sort, so into his own mythmaking that he’s even re-appropriated the derogatory “gwai lou” into something that makes him sound mysterious and enigmatic.
He is, at his core, a vulnerable and scared man dropped in an overwhelming environment, played with a boyish quality by the excellent Farrell, who has embodied a spiritually similar character before in In Bruges. When he finds himself in trouble, or someone sees through his facade, he almost feels like a kid trying to make up a reason for why he didn’t do his homework.
Fala Chen – who is also in Lucky Lu, another TIFF standout – plays Dao Ming, a loan shark who has more in common with Doyle than he expects. Much of the emotional poignancy of the film comes from their one-on-one scenes together. The two characters are bonded by their guilt and shame (a recurring theme in the movie) and their story takes a surprise turn that I wouldn’t dare spoil here.
Ballad is beautifully shot, with the vibrant colors of Macau – a somehow even flashier version of Las Vegas – serving as a stunning backdrop for Doyle’s misadventures. The colors jump off the screen, whether it’s a red jacket cutting through a rainy backdrop or Doyle’s “lucky gloves” caressing his cards at the baccarat table. Those visuals make the reality-bending scenes of the film’s second half even more effective, as the audience questions what’s real and what’s not.
The film has plenty to say about materialism and greed. It’s no coincidence that it’s mostly set in casinos, where people bend over backwards for the rich and quickly discard those who have lost their money. It’s quite dark but also deeply funny – Ferrell can get a laugh with a single word and an incredibly mean woman he plays cards against is hilarious.
It’s also a movie that lends itself well to re-watches, to look for clues pointing toward the film’s big plot twist when you already know it’s coming.
A stellar performance from Ferrell, who always impresses when playing sympathetic fools, and some gorgeous cinematography, make Ballad well worth seeing in theaters. Oh, and stick around for the credits for some more fun.
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