Director Edward Berger is flexing his visual range in first trailer for Ballad of a Small Player starring Colin Farrell

Dear Gossips,

We’re just about a week away from the start of the Venice Film Festival and then Telluride and TIFF right after, so trailers and other promotional materials for projects that will be premiering and, perhaps, kicking off their Oscar campaigns are now being released.

That includes Edward Berger’s new film, his follow-up to last year’s Conclave which, you’ll recall, was a major player during award season. Conclave won the ensemble award at the SAGs, basically their best picture. It also took the BAFTA for Best Film. And was nominated for eight Oscars, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. Prior to that, All Quiet on the Western Front won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film. My point is, the Academy knows Edward Berger. So it’s worth paying attention to how his next work, Ballad of a Small Player, will be received. Especially with this cast.

The film stars Colin Farrell who is the reigning Golden Globe and SAG Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries of Television Movie for his performance in The Penguin and a frontrunner for the Emmy in the same category. Oscar winner Tilda Swinton has a supporting role, as does Hong Kong acting legend Deanie Ip, who was the first actor from Hong Kong to win the Volpi Cup Best Actress award in Venice in 2011 for her work in A Simple Life.

The first trailer for Ballad of a Small Player was released yesterday and Edward Berger is flexing his visual range here. If you’ve seen All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, you know he makes great looking movies. The umbrella scene in Conclave will never not be spectacular no matter how many times you see it. From the battlefield to the Vatican and now the casino, Ballad of a Small Player looks like a feast, almost sensory overload… because, of course, this is Macau, the Vegas of the East.

In addition to the cinematography though, Colin looks like he is f-cking going for it in this movie, continuing a streak of thrilling professional swings he’s been taking for the last five years or so. On the heels of The Penguin, and with Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey also due out in September, this fall might become his personal talent showcase.

But while I’m always interested in what Colin Farrell is doing, I have a bigger personal interest in the film, as it was shot in both Macau and Hong Kong, where my parents were born and where I spent half my childhood. I was six years old the first time I was taken to Macau because on the maternal side, I come from gambling people. Put me in a mahjong den or on a casino floor and I’m basically home. So I’m curious to see how Macau and Hong Kong will be interpreted by a world class western filmmaker working with a world class cinematographer (James Friend) telling a story that’s been described as a “character study”.

Ballad of a Small Player will have its Canadian premiere at TIFF which likely means that it’s heading to Telluride first. We should get a sense very soon whether or not it’ll be in the awards conversation.