Official Trailer for Macau’s ‘Ballad of a Small Player’ with Colin Farrell
by Alex Billington
October 7, 2025
Source: YouTube
“What I see is a man way beyond any redemption.” This looks like one helluva sweaty thriller! Netflix has revealed the full official trailer for the vivid gambling movie titled Ballad of a Small Player, the latest creation from the acclaimed German filmmaker Edward Berger following All Quiet on the Western Front & Conclave most recently. This premiered at the 2025 Telluride & Toronto Film Festivals last month. And it hits theaters briefly later in October before it’s streaming on Netflix this month. When his past and his debts start to catch up with him, a high-stakes gambler / corrupt English lawyer laying low in Macau in the East encounters a kindred spirit who might just hold the key to salvation. The book it’s based on is also described as a “vivid and feverish portrait of a soul in self-inflicted purgatorio.” Exactly what this looks like. The film stars Colin Farrell as Lord Doyle, with Fala Chen, Deanie Ip, Alex Jennings, and Tilda Swinton as a private investigator chasing him. With cinematography by James Friend (All Quiet on the Western Front, “The Acolyte”), and music composed by Volker Bertelmann. Even though this has pretty bad reviews from the festivals, I’m still curious about it anyway. The visuals and intensity of Farrell’s performance look good.
Here’s main official trailer (+ poster) for Edward Berger’s film Ballad of a Small Player, from YouTube:
You can watch the teaser trailer for Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player film right here for the first look again.
Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell) is laying low in Macau – spending days & nights on the casino floors, drinking heavily and gambling what little money he has left. Struggling to keep up with his fast-rising debts, he is offered a lifeline by the mysterious Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a casino employee with secrets of her own. In hot pursuit is Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton) – a private investigator ready to confront Doyle with what he is running from. As Doyle tries to climb to salvation, the confines of reality start to close in. Ballad of a Small Player is directed by the Academy Award-nominated German filmmaker Edward Berger, director of the films Strait-Jacket, Sidewalk Hotel, Smelly Dinners, Wanderbread, Gomez: Heads or Tails, Jack, All My Loving, 2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front, and Conclave previously, and TV series “Deutschland 83” & “Patrick Melrose”. The screenplay is written by Rowan Joffe (of Last Resort, 28 Weeks Later, The American, Brighton Rock, Before I Go To Sleep, Locked In). Based on the novel of the same name from Lawrence Osborne. Produced by Mike Goodridge, Edward Berger, Matthew James Wilkinson. It premieres at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival this fall. Netflix will then debut Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player film in select US theaters briefly on October 15th, 2025, and streaming on Netflix starting October 29th, 2025.