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...).

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Rotunda do Istmo, Taipa

Episode 5 has fewer locations on offer than previous ones and many of them are part of general travelogue style shots to fill the gaps between scenes. We start off, unsurprisingly, where #4 left off - with Jonah on the private boat at a Macau marina. However, we have already established that the marina was in fact back in Hong Kong. The film makers are seeking to show otherwise by opening with an establishing shot of Macau. This is another shot of the Rotunda do Istmo. The top image showing an angle looking slightly to the west. The body of water in the right is the lake/wetland (former sea now encapsulated by the reclamation and, no doubt, swapped with freshwater) that sits between the Avenida de Praia on Taipa (where the Taipa houses museum now stands) and the Cotai Strip.

You may have spotted the bottom image is the same one used in the previous episode.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Rotunda do Istmo, Taipa

Another quick shot that doesn't really show us anything other than some of Macau's sights. This time it is a roundabout on Taipa called the Rotunda do Istmo. I guess it, and the roads that lead to it, mark where the southern Taipa shoreline once stood before it was all filled in to create the Cotai Strip. You can see a few of the resort casinos in the background. The Venetian is on the right, followed by the Four Seasons and then you can just make out the Parisian and its fake Eiffel Tower. On the left is the Crown Towers part of the City of Dreams, followed by the cluster of the St Regis / Holiday Inn / Conrad / Sheraton.