Colin Farrell Is a Desperate Gambler in First Trailer for Netflix's Ballad of a Small Player

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Netflix just dropped the first full trailer for Ballad of a Small Player, and this thing looks saturated with pure anxiety, intensity, and heat. At its center is Colin Farrell as “Lord Doyle,” a once-high-roller now drowning in debt, skulking through the back rooms of Macau’s casinos as he struggles to outrun his past. Ballad of a Small Player is by German filmmaker Edward Berger, the mind behind All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, who is now revisiting the space of literary adaptations, plunging into the thematic frameworks of addiction, redemption, and self-delusion.

The trailer feels like a feverish haze of desperation and the hope of redemption, strung together by Farrell’s honest performance and Berger’s bright and extremely colorful visuals. At his character’s lowest point, Lord Doyle crosses paths with Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a mysterious casino worker who offers him what looks like a way out. As he clings to that chance, a private investigator played by Tilda Swinton draws closer, determined to uncover what he’s been running from in the first place.

Visually, the trailer leans into neon and disorientation, always contrasting chaos and solitude. The editing feels urgent, and just from the trailer, you can sense Doyle being pushed into corners. The screenplay is by Rowan Joffé, based on a novel by Lawrence Osborne. Berger has reunited with collaborators like cinematographer James Friend and composer Volker Bertelmann.

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We hope for a sharp turn for Berger, whose All Quiet on the Western Front won the Oscar for Best International Feature in 2023 and established him as one of Europe’s most technically precise directors. His follow-up, Conclave, continued that streak of tense, claustrophobic dramas. Ballad of a Small Player appears more dreamlike and indulgent, a story about moral ruin told with the texture of a hangover, but it debuted to mixed reviews at the Telluride Film Festival in August, even as it earned praise for Farrell’s performance.

The film opens in limited U.S. theaters on Oct. 15, then launches on Netflix globally on Oct. 29.

Colin Farrell Is a Desperate Gambler in First Trailer for Netflix’s Ballad of a Small Player