The work of Spain’s leftwing gay writer Federico García Lorca takes centre stage in La Bola Negra, a work of formal excellence that truly announces the arrival of co-directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi on the international stage. Known in their homeland as Los Javis, this marks their second feature following 2017’s musical comedy Holy Camp! Arguably, the two films couldn’t be more different, with La Bola Negra a fiercely ambitious historical drama that explores queer identity through the words of Lorca.
Already claiming a share of the best director prize at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, alongside Paweł Pawlikowski for Fatherland, La Bola Negra is a major frontrunner in this year’s awards season, not just in the best international feature category, but with many believing it may rival Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey for best picture. Certainly, this triptych of time-hopping tales, craftily interwoven with the help of editor Alberto Gutiérrez, is one of the great LGBTQ+ films of our time.
Want to see this content?
This page contains content provided by Google reCAPTCHA. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as Google reCAPTCHA may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required purposes.
It begins in 1937 in explosive fashion. Amid the Spanish Civil War, the Republican-leaning Sebastián (singer Guitarricadelafuente) barely survives as his quint village is ripped apart by bombs. Making his escape he's soon stopped by a Nationalist platoon; rather than show his true colours, he keeps his wits about him, claiming allegiance with the enemy. Keeping his head down may be the only way to avoid the firing squad, even if it means selling his soul to stay alive.
The film's title soon becomes clear when the film jumps back in time five years to 1932. An unfinished work by Lorca, with just four pages completed, La Bola Negra (The Black Ball) tells of Carlos (Milo Quifes), a young man from a wealthy family living in Granada. Caught between his stern father's wishes and his own secret desires, Carlos applies for membership at a local casino, only to be 'black balled' by the committee, who vote against him. The reason? He’s suspected of being gay.
The third story takes us to 2017, focusing on Alberto (Carlos González), a historian and one-time playwright who lives freely in Madrid with his boyfriend. Dealing with his mother, whose own troubled life and substance abuse issues have torn apart their relationship, Alberto is given a further insight into his own heritage when he discovers a grandfather he didn’t know existed has left him an inheritance of sorts. It takes him not only cross country, but back into the past and into the world of Lorca.
Inspired by the 2023 play La piedra oscura by Alberto Conejero, who receives a co-writing credit here, the film's central spine hinges on Sebastián's story. Forced to guard one of the Republican captives, Rafael Rodríguez Rapún (Miguel Bernardeau), the young soldier finds himself drawn to him physically, despite his own sexuality buried deep. Gradually, he gains his confidence, learning that the real-life Rapún, a former footballer for Atlético Madrid, was also Lorca’s lover.
Spanish actor Penélope Cruz also features, almost unrecognisable as a sassy showgirl sent to entertain the troops, while Glenn Close, impressively switching between Spanish and English, features as an American Lorca scholar who becomes critical in Alberto's journey. But in truth, these showy roles are sidelined by emotive turns from Bernardeau and Guitarricadelafuente, in particular, who makes light work of his first screen role.
Winding towards an emotionally rich climax, one that ripples through the decades, the result is a film that potently explores the hardships that so many men and women have faced regarding sexual orientation. A film that deserves to sit alongside Ken Loach’s own Spanish Civil War drama Land and Freedom, while the 150-minute running time does sag at times under the weight of its overtures, it remains a bravura work.
La Bola Negra is released in select UK cinemas on Friday 6 November and will arrive on Netflix on Wednesday 2 December.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.