Inspired by the unfinished work of the same name by author Federico Garcia Lorca, La Bola Negra ambitiously attempts a decade-spanning story of love and connection in this tryptic film that covers three periods in time: 1932, where a young man from a wealthy family is blackballed from joining an exclusive social club due to rumours of his homosexuality; 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, in which the relationship between a reluctant soldier and prisoner becomes one of intense desire; and 2017, when an inheritance by a queer playwright brings the three generations of stories together.
Starring an ensemble including Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos Gonzalez and Milo Quifes, with appearances from Glenn Close and Penelope Cruz, Javier Ambrossi & Javier Calvo’s soul-stirring feature is a blistering cinematic achievement. Imbued with an atmosphere of remarkable authenticity and texture, La Bola Negra is an audaciously and refreshingly queer film, as stunningly orchestrated as it is emotionally moving.
The shatteringly talented directors behind the film, Ambrossi & Calvo, have crafted a piece with the fluidity needed to sweep you along in such a sprawling epic, mounting each of the plot threads with a visual language unique to itself; indebted to the exceptional work of cinematographer Gris Jordana, there is a resplendence to the feature that is rather breathtaking, particularly in the moments where it strays into the symbolic for more grandiose moments peppered throughout. Rendered with such texture, La Bola Negra is a superbly staged endeavour, and a true credit to the creative teams involved that something can look so wonderful on a comparatively small budget, all wrapped together in Raül Refree's exceptional, imposing score.
Born from the need to preserve and, if necessary, excavate art from the rubble of man’s destruction, La Bola Negra is a resonant tale that reimagines the story of the incomplete novel with an earned artistic liberation. Co-written by the direction duo alongside Alberto Conejero, the film’s screenplay does just as remarkable a job of weaving the story together in a smart manner; while any media with this structure often runs the risks of featuring periods that lose your interest, the writing team pay as much attention to the individual stories as they do to the wider portrait, crafting each segment with thought and detail that culminates in something even richer because of the care that has gone into it at each step of the way. There is something beautifully simple in its messaging that feels oddly enchanting - across all this time, the rise and fall of wars and regimes, in the end, it all comes down to love and the need for acceptance.
This truly is an ensemble effort, and the cast assembled are uniformly terrific. Guitarricadelafuente and Miguel Bernardeau’s dynamic may be one of uncertainty, but their chemistry sparks something deeply moving as the film begins to reveal its inner workings. The weight on Milo Quifes’s Carlos speaks profoundly on the constraints society puts on anyone they deem other, and he performs the turmoil of his ultimatum - to be accepted as he isn’t or find safety in a lie - especially well. Across the board, the performances are often so complimentary of each other, a poetry in the way they interact without ever sharing the screen. The appearance of two more established names in Glenn Close and Penelope Cruz are handled efficiently in adding prestige to the picture without ever becoming distracting or overwhelming, further evidence of just how well orchestrated the whole piece is.
As La Bola Negra’s pieces begin to take form, you find yourself swept up in a decade-spanning journey of love, persecution, legacy and desire, punctuated throughout with fantastic performances, blistering direction and a superb score to boot. It takes a little patience but remain with La Bola Negra and Javier Ambrossi & Javier Calvo’s shattering epic will transcend, leaving an indelible mark on those swept up in its current.