--- title: "La bola negra" year: 2026 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/la-bola-negra" fi1m_id: "la-bola-negra" imdb_id: "tt35511966" tmdb_id: 1422041 wikidata_id: "Q134548431" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-09-23" updated: "2026-10-03T07:54:47.757101+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # La bola negra (2026) Directed by Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo · 2h 35m · MPA R · Drama, War ## Identity La bola negra - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/la-bola-negra - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** la-bola-negra - **IMDb ID:** tt35511966 - **TMDB ID:** 1422041 - **Wikidata ID:** Q134548431 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35511966/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1422041, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134548431 **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 79 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* Three love stories, eighty-five years, and not one shot that would settle for being plain > Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo take Lorca’s unfinished play and build three love stories across 1932, 1937 and 2017. It is handsome, heartfelt and far too pleased with itself, and at 155 minutes it explains what it should have let us feel. ## Synopsis Spain, in three years the film keeps cutting between: 1932, 1937 and 2017. In each, a love story between two men, lived under a different set of rules about who may be seen with whom. Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente) and Rafael (Miguel Bernardeau) lead one strand; Alberto (Carlos González) and Carlos (Milo Quifes) another; Juan Pablo (Julio Torres) moves through the third. Around them stand the women who watch and decide what to do about it: Teresa (Lola Dueñas), Nené Romero (Penélope Cruz) and Isabelle Durand (Glenn Close). The poet Federico García Lorca (Alberto Cortés), whose unfinished play gives the film its title, appears as a character in his own story. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo direct from their own screenplay, and the three eras interrupt one another from the first reel. ## Review Federico García Lorca wrote *La bola negra* and did not live to finish it. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, who wrote, directed and produced this film, have finished it for him in the most expansive way available: three love stories between men, one in 1932, one in 1937, one in 2017, cut together so that each keeps breaking into the others. Lorca himself turns up, played by Alberto Cortés. The idea is clear and good. What was hidden in one Spain is lived in the open in another, and the film wants us to feel the whole distance at once. It runs 155 minutes, there is a great deal to admire in it, and it does not know when to stop. The look is the first thing you notice and the thing most critics have led with. Gris Jordana moves the camera as though it were one of the dancers, and the joins between eras are made on movement rather than on a fade, so a gesture begun in one year finishes in another. Roger Bellés dresses each period down to the last glass on the last table. The trouble is that everything is so clean. Nobody in 1937 looks as though they have slept in their clothes or missed a meal, and a war is going on. Bellés has built three beautiful rooms when one of them needed to be ugly. The cast is large and the film is generous to it. Guitarricadelafuente, as Sebastián, is the discovery: he has a stillness the film around him does not, and when the camera finally stops moving it is usually to look at him. Miguel Bernardeau gives Rafael more heat than depth, which may be the part. Penélope Cruz plays Nené Romero with the control the picture lacks elsewhere; she can stand in a doorway and let a scene happen to her. Lola Dueñas, as Teresa, is the one performer here who seems to know how tired her character is. Glenn Close speaks softly as Isabelle Durand and is given a role that asks more of her than it gives back. We were moved, more than we expected to be, in the passages with Cortés’s Lorca. He is on screen for very little of the running time, and the directors have the sense not to make him quotable. He watches, he writes, he is afraid, and the film is at its best when it borrows his restraint. Then it hands the point to somebody else to say out loud, and we sat there having felt something and being told, a minute later, what it was. That is the film’s real flaw, and it grows in the last hour. Ambrossi and Calvo have built three strands whose connections are half the pleasure, and then they explain the connections. Alberto Gutiérrez’s cross-cutting is quick and confident early on, when we are allowed to work out for ourselves who echoes whom. Late in the film the cutting slows down to make sure we have got it. Raül Refree’s score, which is handsome and sparingly used for an hour, arrives in the finale to underline every rhyme the editing has already made. Some of the warmer reviews call this a small loss. We think it is the main one. The comparison everyone will reach for is Almodóvar, and it is fair up to a point. This is Spanish melodrama that is not embarrassed to be melodrama, with women in strong colours and men who cannot say what they mean. The difference is that Almodóvar’s films, even the long ones, feel edited by someone who wanted to go home. This one feels edited by people who loved every take, and the two mixed reviews it has had are right about that, if not about much else. The cast alone would carry a film forty minutes shorter. We would still send you to it, with one instruction. See it in a cinema if one is showing it. On a big screen the excess is at least an experience, the three eras arrive like weather, and Cruz and Guitarricadelafuente are worth the size. At home, 155 minutes becomes 155 minutes. *Fi1m score 74, published 23 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics are won over: nine of twelve reviews are positive and none negative. The praise settles on the same things: the confidence with which the directors braid three queer storylines across 1932, 1937 and 2017, the operatic, maximalist style that treats melodrama as a virtue, and the sheer handsomeness of the images. Several single out the editing and the score, and the performances are widely admired, Penélope Cruz’s among them. Its reworking of Lorca’s unfinished play as a way of honouring Spain’s persecuted queer histories is the note struck most often. The reservations gather around scale. The doubters find it sprawling and undisciplined, with ponderous stretches, clunky dialogue and characters who stay flat. Variety is the coolest, calling it distended and overblown, while Screen Daily and Vulture sit in the mixed middle for similar reasons. Even admirers note that explaining how the three strands connect costs the film some mystery. The spread is wide, but nobody dislikes it. ## Straight answers **Is La bola negra worth watching?** *La bola negra* is worth watching for anyone who enjoys Spanish melodrama and can sit through 155 minutes of it, and we scored it 74. Guitarricadelafuente and Penélope Cruz are the reasons to go, and Ambrossi and Calvo's three-era structure is a good idea handsomely built. The last hour explains connections it should have left us to feel, and the film is best seen large, in a cinema. **How long is La bola negra, and what is it rated?** *La bola negra* runs 2h 35m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and war film. **Where can I watch La bola negra in the US?** *La bola negra* is not on any streaming or rental service in the US at the moment. Availability is checked daily. **How does La bola negra compare to Land and Freedom?** *La bola negra* and [*Land and Freedom*](https://film.one/film/land-and-freedom) both go to Spain in the 1930s and come back with very different films. Loach's is all argument and mud, made moving by volunteers who doubt and think; Ambrossi and Calvo's is romantic melodrama with immaculate rooms and a camera that dances. If you want the war, Loach's is the truer and tighter film. If you want the love stories and a large cast in strong colours, this one is for you. **Is La bola negra based on a true story or a book?** *La bola negra* is based on an unfinished play of the same name by Federico García Lorca, who did not live to complete it. The film is not a true story, though Lorca himself appears as a character, played by Alberto Cortés, and his scenes are the ones that moved us most. You do not need to know the play; the directors explain every connection, more than once. **What should I watch after La bola negra?** After *La bola negra*, try [*Land and Freedom*](https://film.one/film/land-and-freedom) (1995, Fi1m 83): Loach’s Spanish Civil War film, all argument and mud, the antidote to clean period rooms. Then [*Maurice*](https://film.one/film/maurice) (1987, Fi1m 83): Forster’s forbidden love story done with patience; the restraint this film keeps promising. ### Reviews we read (12) - **IndieWire**, Sophie Monks Kaufman (A): The critic calls the film a heartbreaking, dazzling work whose interwoven stories form a coherent tribute to queer storytellers. She particularly praises its carefully structured timelines and the poetic emotional force they create together. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-black-ball-review-los-javis-1235195462/) - **The AV Club**, B. Panther (A-): The critic praises the time-hopping queer epic for blending fantasy and history into a rousing celebration of queerness across three eras. They single out the fluid visual transitions and maximalist style that imagines new futures rooted in collective emancipation, while noting a minor complaint about overly sanitized period visuals. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/la-bola-negra-review-los-javis-queer-drama-netflix) - **Little White Lies**, Rafa Sales Ross (87/100, inferred): The review lauds the directors’ head-spinning, era-spanning ode to political liberty and memory, noting how the ambitious multi-timeline structure effectively condemns historical repression while affirming hope and desire in the present. [Read](https://lwlies.com/cannes-film-festival/the-black-ball-first-look-review) - **Sight and Sound** (86/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's operatic and extravagant style in reimagining Lorca’s unfinished play across three timelines, highlighting its emotional excess, baroque imagery, and melodrama as a powerful way to honor Spain’s queer histories and victims of persecution. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/black-ball-operatic-journey-through-spains-queer-histories) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Richard Lawson (85/100, inferred): The critic hails the film as a major Cannes standout and a dazzling mix of contemporary pop sensibility and classical filmmaking. They single out the thrilling technical bravado, with nearly every shot a composed wonder, and the assured handling of the triptych structure spanning gay history. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-black-ball-review-bola-negra-los-javis-glenn-close-1236603356/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (4/5): The critic finds the narrative triptych superlatively acted and beautifully shot, handsomely produced and confidently constructed with an elegant cameo for Lorca. A small regret is expressed that some mystery and poetry is lost once the connections between the three strands are explained. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/may/21/the-black-ball-review-the-complicated-secrets-of-gay-sexuality-in-spain-are-brilliantly-told) - **Vulture**, Alison Willmore (65/100, inferred): Willmore finds the film compelling and ambitious, though its achievements sometimes seem outstripped by its scope. She praises its moments of grandeur, especially when the directors reach for the transcendent, while noting clunky dialogue and ponderous stretches. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/the-black-ball-review-sometimes-sublime-sometimes-clumsy.html) - **Screen Daily**, Lee Marshall (63/100, inferred): The critic admires the passion and timely reclamation of repressed queer culture in the triple-timeline story but finds it a sprawling, undisciplined melodrama that lacks narrative elegance despite strong performances like Penélope Cruz’s. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/la-bola-negra-review-penelope-cruz-and-guitarricadelafuente-star-in-sprawling-exploration-of-spains-queer-culture/5217089.article) - **Variety**, Guy Lodge (50/100, inferred): The critic finds the film ambitious but distended and turgidly overblown at times, with two-dimensional characters, though it has some confidently muscular filmmaking and poignant maximalism honoring queer ancestors. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/the-black-ball-review-1236755685/) - **The Playlist**, Gregory Ellwood (A-): The critic finds the ambitious interweaving of three queer storylines across 1932, 1937, and 2017 a miracle of narrative control that lands a powerful emotional gut punch. They single out the vast canvas, strong performances, gorgeous score, and masterful climax for praise while noting some early jarring tonal shifts. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/la-bola-negra-the-black-ball-review-three-generations-of-queer-men-cross-paths-in-javier-ambrossi-and-javier-calvos-epic-and-heartbreaking-melodrama-cannes-20260521/) - **Deadline**, Damon Wise (80/100, inferred): The critic praises the film as an unashamedly romantic decades-spanning drama with extraordinary craft in seamlessly weaving three timelines. They single out its confident handling of gay love stories and melodrama in the vein of Almodóvar. [Read](https://deadline.com/2026/05/la-bola-negra-review-javier-calvo-and-javier-ambrossi-penelope-cruz-1236918715/) - **The Wrap** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a rousing, ambitious celebration of queer love and the ties between past and present. They praise its inventive editing and emotionally resonant performances, while noting that the connections between stories sometimes slow the narrative and leave one thread less developed. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/la-bola-negra-review-cannes/) ## Details - **Director:** Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo - **Director:** Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo - **Screenplay:** Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo - **Novel:** Federico García Lorca - **Cinematography:** Gris Jordana - **Editor:** Alberto Gutiérrez - **Music:** Raül Refree - **Production design:** Roger Bellés - **Producer:** Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi, Jorge Pezzi - **Cast:** Guitarricadelafuente as Sebastián; Miguel Bernardeau as Rafael; Carlos González as Alberto; Milo Quifes as Carlos; Lola Dueñas as Teresa; Penélope Cruz as Nené Romero; Glenn Close as Isabelle Durand; Lorenzo Zurzolo - **Runtime:** 2h 35m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 16 October 2026 - **Genres:** Drama, War - **Budget:** $15 million - **Box office:** $255 - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRHtqjHYPew ## Where to watch in the US Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check. ## If you liked this - *Law of Desire* (1987): Almodóvar’s early melodrama of men who want the wrong men, lean where this is long - *Land and Freedom* (1995), Fi1m 83: Loach’s Spanish Civil War film, all argument and mud, the antidote to clean period rooms — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/land-and-freedom.md) - *Maurice* (1987), Fi1m 83: Forster’s forbidden love story done with patience; the restraint this film keeps promising — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/maurice.md) - *Cloud Atlas* (2012): Six timelines cut into one another, for anyone who wanted the structure taken further - *Veneno* (2020): Ambrossi and Calvo’s series about a Spanish trans icon, in a tighter shape --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/la-bola-negra