‘Ballad Of A Small Player’ Review – Edward Berger’s First Major Misfire [TIFF 2025]

It would be hard to argue that a single director has had a better post-COVID shutdown run than Edward Berger. After Netflix snuck All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) into the Best Picture race with 4 Oscar wins and Conclave (2024) was a top 3 Best Picture contender last year, it’s hard to believe that Berger already has another film ready to roll out so early this year. Taking after Steven Soderbergh by working relentlessly, Berger’s newest film, Ballad of a Small Player, is his latest collaboration with Netflix.

Starring Colin Farrell, Fala Chen, and Tilda Swinton, the film follows Lord Doyle (Farrell) as a gambler on the coldest streak imaginable. He owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to various parties, including his hotel. After both his hotel and  Private Investigator Cynthia Blithe (Swinton) give him an ultimatum to come up with the cash or face the consequences, Doyle has just a few days to turn his luck around.

Both All Quiet and Conclave are known for their commanding score and impressive technical achievements, and Berger and Co. continue that run here. Volker Bertelmann returns to compose the score, and you can feel that he’s a creative talent in his prime. It’s not as strong as his last two Berger collaborations, but the score is still highly effective. The film looks incredible, with bright colors and extravagant casinos being the visual highlight. Berger just knows how to properly utilize the space provided by massive sets. 

Farrell’s performance is strong as always, bringing a lot of great English accent work into this role as Lord Doyle. The character demands a bit more depth than you’d expect, and he delivers strong moments sprinkled throughout the film as Doyle opens up to characters like Blithe and Dao Ming (Chen). 

Unfortunately, the performances and technical achievements aren’t enough to save poor pacing and a bad script. The film starts with a bang and quickly screeches to a halt once Doyle links up with Dao Ming after skipping out on her casino once he loses all his money. A huge chunk of the middle third of the movie is spent with them lying low together, staying out of trouble as much as they can. There are narrative reasons for them to escape this way, but it just lingers for way too long. The film never quite finds its footing the rest of the way.

There’s also a criminal underutilization of Tilda Swinton, who only has a few minutes of screen time. It’s surprising considering her billing for the film, but she makes the most of her limited action. Her character and that entire plot thread are borderline unnecessary. Doyle is already in desperation mode after his massive debt to the hotel, so this other threat is just overkill. 

The film’s attempts at exploring deeper themes than a classic gambling movie fall pretty short. Doyle clearly has some other issues outside of gambling addiction. He overdoes it with alcohol, food, and basically does the same with anything he can get his hands on. There are pieces of a great film about a broken man at the end of his rope, but it doesn’t come to any meaningful or impactful head for Doyle. 

Ballad of a Small Player is the first major misfire for Edward Berger as he continues to push his way into the mainstream of film culture. This is what happens when you work as consistently as he has been. Sometimes it just doesn’t work. Thankfully for us, he’s already lined up for another film in partnership with A24. As a fan of his work over the last few years, I have to respect him for taking a swing like this and hope his experience only propels him to better projects down the line.

Ballad of a Small Player held its Canadian Premiere as part of the Special Presentations section at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. The film will have a limited theatrical release starting on October 15th, with a Netflix release on October 29th. 

Director: Edward Berger

Screenwriter: Rowan Joffe

Rated: R

Runtime: 101m