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Opening in theaters on October 16 and streaming on Netflix on December 2 is ‘La Bola Negra,’ directed by Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi. It stars Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Julio Torres, Penélope Cruz, and Glenn Close.
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Initial Thoughts
A bold, panoramic fusion of historical epic, queer romance, and family drama, ‘La Bola Negra’ is visionary in its reach and intimate in its emotional heft. Even more surprising is that this is a Netflix-backed production, yet it’s so unlike the cookie-cutter true-crime mysteries and underdeveloped melodramas that so often clog up the platform these days.
Directed by filmmakers Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who co-wrote the script with Alberto Conejero – based on his play ‘La Piedra Oscura’ and the unfinished titular play by gay Spanish playwright, theatre director, and poet Federico Garcia Lorca – ‘La Bola Negra’ weaves true events and people into a fictional tale that stretches through three different timelines. It may take some patience to get how it all connects, but the payoff, fantastic cast, and wondrous visuals make it worth the effort.
Story and Direction
There are indeed three different narratives that wind their way through the 159-minute runtime of ‘La Bola Negra.’ In 1932, a young man named Carlos (Milo Quifes) is prodded by his wealthy father in the Spanish city of Granada to apply for membership in the local casino – a sign of status conferred by the members voting with white balls to accept or black balls to reject. Carlos is summarily rejected because the members suspect (correctly) that he is a homosexual, although he fervently denies it and attempts to join again.
Meanwhile, in 1937, a young, shy trumpet player named Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) is devastated when Italian forces bomb his small village and kill everyone, including his mother, in support of the Nationalist fascist forces attempting to overthrow the leftist Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. Conscripted into the Nationalist army just to keep himself alive, Sebastián is assigned to guard a wounded Republican prisoner named Rafael Rodríguez Rapún (Miguel Bernardeau), whom Sebastián – who, like Carlos, represses his sexuality in the ultra-conservative Spain of the time – begins to fall in love with despite the danger to them both.
In the third thread, set in now-cosmopolitan Madrid in 2017, a queer historian named Alberto (Carlos González) discovers that he has been left a mysterious inheritance by his maternal grandfather, who he never knew. Mostly estranged from his own drug and alcohol-addicted mother (Lola Dueñas) and feeling adrift in his career and relationships with his partner, Alberto journeys to the remote village in which his grandfather lived to find out just what the man left him and why.
How the stories of Alberto, Carlos, and Sebastián are related, and how they tie into the real-life story of Lorca and his unfinished play, is the central mystery of ‘La Bola Negra,’ and admittedly it’s difficult for a while to ascertain what the connection might be (a common problem for narratives like this). In addition, the cross-cutting between the stories happens at a rapid enough pace that it can also be a struggle for the viewer to connect with each character (as well as the supporting players) before shifting to one of the other stories.
By the time it all begins to coalesce, however, one finds oneself ultimately swept up and affected by not just the individual stories and how they feed into each other, but the film’s themes of expressing one’s own desire, allowing oneself to live a full, true life, and turning trauma and loss into tools for survival, transcendence, and self-empowerment.
Bolstering these ambitious thematic throughlines are terrific work from the ensemble cast, the complex score – at times lyrical, at other times almost atonal – from Raül Refree, and especially the stunning cinematography from Gris Jordana. Whether it’s the opening destruction of Sebastián’s village, snow falling through a blasted glass dome atop a building, a single take of Carlos’ drunken half-dance through a bar, or an erotically charged tableau of naked soldiers frolicking on a beach, Jordana and her directors provide a constant stream of dazzling images that fill the eyes even when the story wanders here and there.
Cast and Performances
It’s amazing to learn that music star Guitarricadelafuente and Milo Quifes both make their acting debuts in ‘La Bola Negra.’ The former is captivating right from the start as Sebastián, an innocent who is plunged into the darkest heart of the Spanish Civil War but eventually discovers who he really is through his experiences. Quifes is also quite compelling as Carlos, his body and mind constantly at war over who he is and what he wants, although his own self-realization comes with a heavy price.
Carlos González as Alberto radiates both decency and exhaustion, as he battles to understand his family legacy and come to grips with his traumatic background, while able to live freely as a result of past events. His innate decency is magnified in the character of Rafael, whom Miguel Bernardeau infuses with tenderness, dignity, and grace as he provides an example of feeling comfortable in one's own skin.
Three brilliant women take on key roles in the film. Veteran Lola Dueñas is riveting as Alberto’s mother Teresa, whose demons and long-held anger at her father poisons her relationship with her son. Penélope Cruz steals the movie during her brief time onscreen, as a cabaret singer sent to entertain the troops who also gives Sebastián a quick lesson in the history of Spanish drag (‘Transvestism is the fantasy of possibility,’ she says at one point, ‘while war is its opposite’). And finally, Glenn Close is compassionate and sensitive as an American historian who provides key support and information to Alberto.
Final Thoughts
‘La Bola Negra’ is a film steeped in not just Spanish history, but the long struggle of that country’s LGBTQ+ community for acceptance in a society that has been very religious and often dangerously conservative well into modern times. Some of the references to the Spanish Civil War – which played out just as World War II was gearing up, and ended in the dictatorship of Francisco Franco – as well as Federico Lorca and other aspects of Spanish society may leave some viewers in the dark.
But the movie’s themes are universal, its message of being true to oneself – filtered through a lens of queer desire overcoming repression and guilt – is profound, and its cinematic craft is undeniable. With the Oscar race just beginning to heat up, this is best picture material, of which Netflix should be proud.
‘La Bola Negra’ receives a score of 85 out of 100.
What is the plot of ‘La Bola Negra’?
'La Bola Negra' follows three generations of men across pivotal moments in Spanish history, bound by pain, desire, and love. Carlos longs to belong in a fractured Spain. Sebastián finds connection across enemy lines. And Alberto uncovers a long-buried family secret — one that finally gives voice to truths the past tried to erase.
Who is in the cast of ‘La Bola Negra’?
- Guitarricadelafuente as Sebastián
- Carlos González as Alberto
- Miguel Bernardeau as Rafael Rodríguez Rapún
- Milo Quifes as Carlos
- Lola Dueñas as Teresa
- Penélope Cruz as Nené Romero
- Glenn Close as Isabelle Durand
- Antonio de la Torre as Vicente
- Natalia de Molina as Valentina
- Albert Pla as Pascual
- Yenesi as Goyita
- Lorenzo Zurzolo as Riccardo
- Julio Torres as Juan Pablo
Movies Like 'La Bola Negra':
- 'In Praise of Older Women' (1997)
- 'The Devil's Backbone' (2001)
- 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005)
- 'Pan's Labyrinth' (2006)
- 'Call Me by Your Name' (2018)
- 'Roma' (2018)
- 'My Policeman' (2022)
- 'Fireworks' (2023)
- 'All of Us Strangers' (2023)
- 'Queer' (2024)
- 'Nickel Boys' (2024)
- 'Sing Sing' (2024)
- 'I'm Still Here' (2024)
- 'Coward' (2026)
