Colin Farrell brings every bit of his charisma and charm to his latest film, “Ballad of a Small Player”, a perplexing psychological drama that has so much going for it starting with it’s fully committed star. It’s directed by Edward Berger who is coming off of back-to-back Best Picture Oscar nominations for “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Conclave”. Those two names alone should be enough to pique any movie lover’s interest.

But Farrell’s wholehearted efforts and Berger’s sumptuous visual artistry can’t overcome the movie’s single biggest hurdle – its script. Adapting the 2014 Lawrence Osborne novel of the same name, screenwriter Rowan Joffé takes on the daunting challenge of untangling the already knotty original material. The film gets off to a good start, nicely setting the table both narratively and visually. But problems spring up alarmingly fast as the movie swings from stylishly intriguing to frustratingly convoluted.

Farrell plays Lord Doyle, a high-rolling gambling addict who has made his way to Macau, “the gambling capital of the universe”. We learn rather quickly that Doyle is in trouble. For starters, he fled to Macau after swindling over $900,000 from a wealthy elderly widow. But he gambled it all away in a run of bad luck. To complicate matters, he has ran up a debt of 352,000 Hong Kong dollars with a swanky Macau hotel and they’ve given him three days to pay up or they’re calling the police.

Doyle’s flawed addict’s logic tells him statistical probability is on his side and he’ll start winning soon. He’s convinced that he played his way into this mess and he can play his way out, with the right financial backing of course. But he’s having a difficult time finding a casino that will extend him credit. He finds hope in the enigmatic Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a casino hostess and loan shack who is in a pickle of her own. Doyle tries to persuade her to fund him, insisting that one big win would solve both of their problems.

As if that wasn’t enough, hot on Doyle’s heels is Cynthia Blythe (Tilda Swinton), a pesky private investigator who gives him 24 hours to come up with the widow’s money or she’ll have him deported back to London. Cynthia adds an interesting layer, but the story is more about Doyle’s mysterious relationship with Dao Ming who disappears, suddenly reappears, and then disappears again. Her presence and absence both play crucial roles in understanding Doyle’s arc. But the hazy storytelling makes getting to any deeper meaning a chore.

At its core, “Ballad of a Small Player” is a redemption story that offers an unorthodox representation of addiction. It boldly serves us its story with helpings of existentialism and tragedy. And its near purgatorial perspective keeps us questioning what we’re seeing. But all of those big ambitious lead to trappings that the movie can’t escape. Even worse, the lack of clarity leaves things murky to point that deciphering it all can be a headache.

“Ballad of a Small Player” is one of the most visually striking movies of the year. It’s also one of the year’s bigger disappointments. The movie is a visual feast, brimming with neon-bathed imagery and richly detailed compositions. And it’s anchored by a tremendous lead performance from Colin Farrell who deserved more fully realized material than he was given. But even with his eye-popping presentation, Berger can’t wrangle together the wealth of big ideas he clearly has. For that reason, his latest film falls well short of his previous two award winners.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS