Netflix dropped the first teaser of Ballad of Small Player, which is the new movie directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Edward Berger. The trailer of Edward Berger discounted film is a hypnotic, suggestive mystery whose protagonist Colin Farrell appears to be the most multi-layered he has ever played in his career. In the role of a high-stakes gambler Lord Doyle, a guy with a shameful past which he has to run away,
Farrell becomes a man at the verge of destruction. It is filled with neon light and the teaser shows a world on top of the casinos of Macau where money is not permanent and wins do not bring down the debt of a misguided human.
The lack of dialogue and the hectic, montage-like editing also make the film seem to possess the air of a psychological thriller and implies a much more intimate and intense character-study as opposed to a regular crime film.
A Gambler’s Desperate Gamble
Lord Doyle also is no gambler, but by the fact of his existence a gambler. The trailer depicts him sometime in exuberant victory and broken-bones despair.
He can be seen in one scene writhing in his frustration at a card table and in another scene, we see him recoiling on a shower floor, a beaten man. Such a blatant description speaks of a man who has lost it all and now stakes his final shreds of self-worth and sanity with the dream of a new beginning.
His life coincides with that of an enigmatic casino worker, Dao Ming (Fala Chen) and an indefatigable detective, Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton). Their characters play a significant role in this cat and mouse game of life-or-death, and Doyle has to face the ghosts he was so much willing to bury him in the past.
Macau’s Glimmering Abyss
Macau is a character as is the city with all of its sparkly lights and possibilities of riches and destruction. The advert takes the beauty of the city and perfectly reproduces it as the mood of Lord Doyle. This blinding, garish light of the casinos is contrasted with the gloomy decisions that he makes. This visual contrast lives up to the theme of the movie: the fancy looking exterior is usually what lies on a hollow core.
More than the simple act of gambling at play though, Ballad of a Small Player is about the psychological cost of a life riding the edge, and the trailer promises that it will provide an exciting look at the attempt of one man to one last chance at redemption in a city full of broken hopes.
A recent media graduate, Bhumi Vashisht is currently making a significant contribution as a committed content writer. She brings new ideas to the media sector and is an expert at creating strategic content and captivating tales, having working in the field from past four months.
