Ballad Of A Small Player

Bluesky

Casinos are known for their shiny surfaces, carefully honed to lure people in before, in most cases, failing to give them any return on their investment – and, unfortunately, Edward Berger’s tale of a spiralling gambling addict follows suit. While it’s understandable the director might want to loosen up a bit after his harrowing war film All Quiet On The Western Front and tension-riven Conclave, he lets it all go here to such an extent that any sort of story or characterisation is blasted away, although Rowan Joffe’s empty screenplay, adapted from Lawrence Osborne’s novel, is a bad bet from the start.

Colin Farrell may be an acting king among his generation but, like the royal cards in the baccarat game his character loves, his seedy sweaty performance ends up counting for nothing in the hand he’s been dealt. He plays “Lord Doyle”, who stays in hotel suites and adorns himself in lavishly coloured tailoring before he hits the Macau casinos with his “lucky pair” of Savile Row gloves.

The signs of debauchery in his room and slightly desperate look tell us a different story and, sure enough, the casino is soon demanding he settle his immense bill. In what amounts to an early plot pile-up, we also learn he is being chased for another ton of money by a private detective (Tilda Swinton, playing a version of the caricature she cooked up for Snowpiercer but to much diminished effect – she’s so mannered, she overplays her hand by some margin). The one shred of light is Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a casino worker with her own troubles, who has sympathy for Doyle despite everything.

The gleaming lure of Macau is shown in all its glory by Berger and his cinematographer James Friend. There’s a touch of Wong Kar-wai in the night-time neon that drenches much of the action and Doyle’s plight is highlighted by the use of vertiginous and often skewed angles and reflective surfaces. What’s missing is a sense of depth. Without it, watching Doyle on the slide holds few pleasures, since his character lacks any psychological dimension, it’s hard to be persuaded to invest in him.

There is talk of “hungry ghosts” and shadows but little of substance to show as the gambling cliches stack up like bad debts and the plot twists are signposted as brightly as the casinos. Farrell is good as ever but it’s impossible to save something that’s had its chips from the start.

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