Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma Island

Doyle wakes up from his medical episode and is being tended to by Dao-ming on a small floating hut in the middle of Sok Kwu Wan (Picnic Bay is the English name for this place). They then spend the next few days (?) recuperating and bonding until Dao-ming mysteriously disappears again. Doyle then finds her huge stash of cash hidden in bags sunk in the water beneath the hut.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Grand Hyatt Hotel, Wanchai

Doyle gets his money, but is then left with a huge restaurant bill. Some how he makes it to Hong Kong and heads to the Grand Hyatt in Wanchai. He then stuffs his face silly and tries his best to delay having to pay his bill until he has a medical episode.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Residence of the Portuguese Consul, Macau

Most of my regular readers will know this place by its former identity: the Bela Vista Hotel. However, since the Handover in 1999 the building has been repurposed as the residence of the Portuguese Consul General. They must have pulled some strings to use it for the production and the Consul does get an acknowledgement in the credits. Doyle heads here when Dao-ming disappears and tries to get his friend to repay a debt he owes him so he can run away to Hong Kong.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Pak Nai, Tuen Mun

Following the fire festivities at the temple, the pair head to a nearby beach and sit on a wooden bench in the middle of what looks like mud flats. When Doyle wakes up in the morning, Dao-ming has disappeared and written a number code on his hand.  This scene was in fact filmed back in Hong Kong. This is the view from the low-tide mud flats in front of Pak Nai looking towards the Shekou peninsula in Shenzhen. It's not far from the so-called "Pak Nai Sky Mirror" near Ap Tsai Hang.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Temple de Tin Hau, Coloane

The large temple that Doyle and Dao-ming go to that evening is the Tin Hau temple in the middle of Coloane.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Edifício San Mei On, Rua Três do Bairro da Areia Preta

Out of all the locations in this film, this has probably caused me the most pain to find and it was nice to finally pin it down. Dao-ming lives in an old style tenement with a central courtyard. The taxi drops the pair off on Rua Três do Bairro da Areia Preta and the pair enter the northernmost block of the "San Mei On" buildings. I have no idea how long these places will be around because the images on the internet make them look quite dilapidated. If I make it to Macau this year I will definitley include it on my visit list.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Unnamed Side Street by Hotel Fortuna

Following the gambler's suicide (shot in Hong Kong), Dao-ming runs away and leaves via a side street. This time we are back in Macau on an unnamed sidestreet next to the Fortuna. Dao-ming leaves via a exit into this side street of the south side of the hotel and Doyle follows her and flags down a taxi. As I've mentioned before, Streetview imagery in Macau hasn't been updated since 2008 but the imagery shows the same place looking bit scruffier in real life. It's most likely had a bit of a spring clean since 2008 though. In case the location label (auto generated at the bottom of the post) snaps away (edit: yes, it snapped away), this is the small road immediately south of Hotel Fortuna.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Windsor House Car Park, Causeway Bay

Doyle briefly catches a glimpse of a man falling past his window as he relaxes in the hotel lounge, and runs down to see what has happened. This is a quick hop to Hong Kong because by the time he gets down to what we think is the ground level of the hotel, we have arrived at a podium carpark at Windsor House in Causeway Bay.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Diamond Casino, Macau

Located in the Holiday Inn, Doyle heads there at the beginning of the film, the entrance seemingly being on the same thoroughfare that links Rua de Cantao with Rua de Xangai.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Praça de D. Afonso Henriques, Macau

We were in this area just recently for Expired, the common identifier being the Hotel Fortuna neon sign in the top right of the image below. 

I'm sure there are a few more images I can pin to this location but without physically being there, it's hard to get a hold of current locations in Macau thanks to the extremely outdated and relatively poor coverage of Streetview. 

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Casino Lisboa, Macau

There are no scenes shot inside Macau's most famous casino, the Lisboa, but we get some nice views of the colourful exterior at a couple of points in the film.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Rua de Foshan, Macau

There are a few shots from Rua de Foshan including the bright signage of the Hotel Fortuna which sits prominently on this side of the hotel.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - The Cotai Strip, Various locations

I've mentioned the colourful cinematography of the film, so it's worth including some of the general establishing shots used, the following being from around the casinos on the Cotai Strip.

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Rotunda do Istmo, Taipa

Although the film starts with Doyle in his hotel room at the Wynn, the following few minutes is occupied by a montage as Doyle narrates his circumstances. There are lots of views from all over Macau so I thought it would be nice to see them, starting off with this view of the Rotunda do Istmo - the main traffic roundabout at the north end of the Cotai Strip. If this shot looks familiar it might be because it is an almost exact replica of one I posted from the Strangers series several years ago. The only real difference to be seen between then and now is the addition of the faux "Big Ben" in front of "The Londoner" (yes, I know it's not really called Big Ben but as an often part-time resident of Westminster, I have special naming privileges...).

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Wynn Palace, Macau

I'm usually a bit behind the time with my featured films, I don't have my finger on the pulse of what is being filmed here sadly. However, one of the most recent international movies shot here (although mainly in Macau) is Ballad of a Small Player and it was recently released on Netflix.

I haven't read the original book but have been told the film departs from the book in terms of the locales used - changing the more traditional older hotels and casinos in the book for the monstrosities that now sit on the Cotai Strip.

That said, I enjoyed this film. It revolves around a shady character, Lord Doyle (Colin Farrell), who has exhausted his money and racked up quite a bit of credit in the pursuit of a big win at the Baccarat tables. He befriends a money lendor, Dao-ming (Fala Chen), who has her own issues dealing with the morality of her work.

The visuals in the film are quite striking with lots of colour throughout as well as some decent locations. The first of which is Doyle's hotel, the Wynn Palace. It looks like he starts off in one of the upper floor rooms, but by the end of the film he has moved to one of the huge suites - each one with a garden and narrow pool (see lower images). This is also the same hotel where he is later confronted by a Macau casino executive played by Anthony Wong Chau-sang.

The ever awesome Anthony Wong