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but without physically being there, it's hard to get a hold of current locations in Macau thanks to the extremely outdated and relatively poor coverage of Streetview.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

Chinese Box - Jeremy Irons (1997) - 155 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

The property where Chang (Michael Hui) and Vivian (Gong Li) go to have their pretend wedding photos done is located at 155 Waterloo Road. This area was popular for wedding boutiques (alongside kindergartens, private temples and Love Hotels) at one time and 155 was one of those businesses for a while.

I'm not sure if it still operates as such (#157 does) but the property still has the curved ground floor extension that can be see on the screencaps below.

Chinese Box - Jeremy Irons (1997) - The China Club, Bank of China Building

Someone once told me that the New Years Eve party scenes at the beginning of Chinese Box were filmed at The China Club - Sir David Tang's members-only restaurant/bar club located in the top three floors of the old Bank of China building in Central. I've never been to the club myself but it looks as though this particular nugget of information is true. I was able to compare the staircase John (Jeremy Irons) walks up during the beginning of the scene with some footage from inside the club and noted the matching ornate wrought iron railings.