How to watch Ballad of a Small Player in New Zealand
Colin Farrell’s luck is running out in this new gambling drama from the director of Conclave.
Colin Farrell has been on a bit of a roll lately—and now he’s on a roll of a different kind in this high stakes gambling drama.
How to watch Ballad of a Small Player in New Zealand
Ballad of a Small Player is screening exclusively in New Zealand cinemas from October 16, 2025, before debuting on Netflix on October 29, 2025.
What is Ballad of a Small Player about?
Directed by Edward Berger and written by Rowan Joffé, and based on the 2014 novel The Ballad of a Small Player by Lawrence Osborne, Ballad of a Small Player sees Castleknock’s favourite son (that’s Farrell—keep up) as Lord Doyle. He’s a dissolute gambler lying low in the nightspots of Macau, hiding from the sins of his past. When a casino employee, Dao Ming, brings him in on a scam that could square all his debts, salvation seems imminent. Unfortunately, private investigator Cynthia Blithe has finally caught up with our desperate antihero, bringing his sordid past firmly and devastatingly into the present.
The cast of Ballad of a Small Player
Colin Farrell is Lord Doyle, Fala Chen is Dao Ming, Tilda Swinton is Cynthia Blithe, and Deanie Ip and Alex Jennings are in supporting roles.
Ballad of a Small Player trailer
Why we’re excited about Ballad of a Smaller Player
German director Edward Berger leaped onto the A list with his one-two punch of All Quiet On The Western Front and Conclave, so anything he turns his hand to right now is worth keeping an eye on. Lawrence Osborne is a one of those very literary crime writers that respectable lit critics admire, to the point where he was handpicked by the Raymond Chandler Estate to continue the exploits of Philip Marlowe in print, so that’s an excellent pedigree right there. And Colin Farrell is, of course, Colin Farrell. So all indications are that this is going to be great.
