Netflix releases trailer for Ballad of a Small Player

Netflix has released the first trailer for Ballad of a Small Player, Edward Berger’s new psychological thriller led by Colin Farrell and co-starring Tilda Swinton. Farrell plays Lord Doyle, a high-stakes gambler laying low on the casino floors of Macau as debts mount, while Swinton’s private investigator, Cynthia Blithe, tracks him down to confront his past. The film is an adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel, with Rowan Joffe (28 Weeks Later) handling the screenplay. The project reunites Berger with a trusted team, including cinematographer James Friend, production designer Jonathan Houlding, costume designer Lisy Christl, editor Nick Emerson, and composer Volker Bertelmann, all of whom have contributed to Berger’s acclaimed prior work.

The trailer signals a tightly wound thriller set against the neon-lit backdrop of Macau’s gaming scene, where Doyle’s attempts to secure a lifeline from Dao Ming Fala Chen, a casino employee with her own secrets, pull him deeper into a web of risk and moral ambiguity. Swinton’s Blithe appears as a relentless pursuer, pressing Doyle to reckon with what he has tried to leave behind. The film is described as a vivid, feverish portrait of a...