- Colin Farrell is throwing out the Oscars bait in his new Netflix film, “Ballad of a Small Player”
- In the film, Farrell plays a gambling addict in Macau
- The movie opens in theaters on October 15, and moves to Netflix on October 29
Netflix is about to release a serious Oscar contender starring Colin Farrell as a gambling addict who haunts the casinos of Macau, China.
“Ballad of a Small Player” is a psychological thriller that explores gambling addiction, portraying it as a compulsion to lose rather than win.
Everyone knows you’re not a real player until you secretly prefer losing,” says Farrell’s character, Lord Doyle. Not a real lord, Doyle is a corrupt British attorney who fled to China after embezzling money from an elderly client.
If the movie — directed by Edgar Berger, the German filmmaker best known for his Oscar-winning 2022 adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front” — follows the 2014 novel it’s based on, then the elevator pitch had to have been “’Leaving Las Vegas’ in Macau.”
Familiar Ring?
The novel, by British author Lawrence Osborne, portrays Doyle as living a life that revolves around nocturnal gambling, heavy drinking, and sleeping in seedy hotels. Haunted by his past and the emptiness of his existence, Doyle is a small player both in gambling and in life.
A fleeting shot at redemption is offered by Dao-Ming, a mysterious Chinese woman who is possibly a sex worker. Their relationship sparks a brief winning streak at the baccarat tables, but things spiral when Doyle’s debts and past catch up with him.
Here’s the movie trailer…
The novel also weaves in Chinese superstitions, particularly the concept of hungry ghosts — spirits of those consumed by desire, with “mouths the size of needle eyes and stomachs the size of caves.”
Doyle’s descent suggests he may be a ghost himself, blurring reality and illusion, possibly opium-induced, culminating in an ambiguous, supernatural-tinged ending.
The movie was filmed at locations including the Casino Lisboa, Venetian Macao, Grand Emperor Casino, and Londoner Macao.
“Ballad of a Small Player” opens in theaters on October 15 — just so it can qualify as a theatrical release for the Oscars — and then hits Netflix on October 29.
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