Always Good Movies

Direction: Edward Berger
Country: USA

From Conclave’s Swiss-Austrian director Edward Berger, Ballad of a Small Player is an adaptation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel of the same name. Not a groundbreaking work, this oddly psychological gambling drama oscillates between reality and fantasy, carrying a faint but persistent aura of supernatural eeriness.

Colin Farrell stars as Lord Doyle, a ruthless gambler with a battered conscience who heads to the gambling mecca of Macau in a desperate attempt to manage his mounting debts. The situation is increasingly dire, yet the stubbornly optimistic Doyle refuses to surrender, especially after meeting Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a lonely woman working at the casino where he plays. What he cannot escape, however, is Betty Grayson (Tilda Swinton), a private detective and debt collector who knows far too much about his murky past.

Berger is unafraid to take big swings, staging sharp contrasts between moments of crushing despair and others of intoxicating invincibility and ecstasy. Farrell embodies this compulsive risk-taker with such uncompromised honesty that his performance can only be called courageous. Still, some of Doyle’s actions remain deliberately opaque, leaving the viewer suspended in a state of ambiguity that is both intriguing and occasionally exasperating.

Drenched in saturated colors and striking, vivid imagery, and populated by a few characters that verge on the cartoonish, Ballad of a Small Player is far from Berger’s strongest effort. Alongside Conclave (2024), his filmography includes Jack (2014) and All Quiet on the Western Front (2022). Yet this film retains its share of compelling moments. Presented as a nightmarish, old-fashioned character study, it probes the tension-fueled psyche of addiction before drifting toward ideas of redemption and lost love. The film never quite coheres as a whole, and its twists are unlikely to astonish, but Farrell remains a constant source of fascination. Once you surrender to its rhythm, it’s a film that carries you along, unevenly but smoothly.

Direction: Edward Berger
Country: UK / USA

From Andrew Berger, the German director behind the multi-award-winning anti-war epic All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), Andrew Berger, comes the more subdued Conclave. This religion-themed thriller, penned by Peter Straughan and based on Robert Harris’ 2016 novel, delves into the shadowy world of Vatican politics. Ralph Fiennes takes the lead as Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence, a man grappling with a personal crisis of faith while tasked with overseeing the papal conclave following the pope's sudden death.

As the slow and ritualistic process of selecting the new leader of the Catholic Church unfolds, Lawrence encounters a web of secrets, conspiracies, prejudice, and ambition. Among the candidates vying for the position, one figure stands out: Vincent Benitez (Carlos Diehz), a little-known Mexican archbishop stationed in Kabul, whose presence stirs unease and curiosity among the cardinals.

Cocooned in gravitas and profound doubt, Conclave thrives on the nuanced performances of its seasoned cast. Fiennes, for example, not only chews the scenery but savors it, as he expresses deep concern about the future of the church with Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini offering strong supporting turns.

Although not particularly groundbreaking in its clash of modernity and tradition within the Church, the film at least never commits the deadliest sin in cinema: boredom, providing enough good material to keep its iniquitous fires burning. Yet, this gun-free thriller—effectively blending faith, tradition, and politics—could have been even more gripping if infused with more scandal, intrigue, and mystery. Ultimately, your enjoyment of Conclave may depend on your perspective on its themes.