The intertwined lives of three men in three different eras, three lives intimately linked by sexuality and desire, pain, and legacy.
Will La Bola Negra make you cry?
If you're wondering whether La Bola Negra will make you cry, the short answer is that a lot of people walk out wrecked. At Cannes, Los Javis say they watched the audience start crying during the screening before it ended in a 20-minute standing ovation, and Letterboxd is full of viewers describing the final half hour as the moment they lost it, with some staying through the entire credits just to pull themselves together.
Read the full write-up on La Bola NegraHow sad is La Bola Negra and will it make you cry?
If you're wondering whether La Bola Negra will make you cry, the short answer is that a lot of people walk out wrecked. At Cannes, Los Javis say they watched the audience start crying during the screening before it ended in a 20-minute standing ovation, and Letterboxd is full of viewers describing the final half hour as the moment they lost it, with some staying through the entire credits just to pull themselves together.
It's a long, operatic film (about two hours and forty minutes) that builds slowly across three love stories in 1932, 1937 and 2017. The earlier stretches are sensual, funny and gorgeous to look at, so the tears tend to come late, when the three timelines finally click together and the film gives a voice back to people history tried to erase. Not everyone is swept away: some critics found it overlong and some viewers say they felt more admiration than heartbreak. But if you're asking "is La Bola Negra a tearjerker", the crowd consensus is a firm yes, especially if you're queer, love Lorca, or have ever had to hide who you love.
Potential spoilers below
The following sections may reveal plot details.
Potential Soft Spots
- Being shut out for who you love
- Queer love stories history tried to erase
- Love affairs cut short by war
- A legacy finally finished by someone else
- Elders carrying secrets for a lifetime
- Art as the only thing that survives
What People Are Saying
"A Sweeping, Tear-Jerking Masterpiece That Demands Your Attention"
"A Rousing Testament to Queer Love's Timeless Resilience"
"Epic storytelling grounded by emotional truth"
"Gorgeous, Punishing Queer Epic"
On Letterboxd, viewers describe being a sobbing mess for the last 20 minutes (cob), crying through the final 30 minutes and the whole credits (patri), and writing their review while quietly crying in an Uber home (hugeasmammoth).
Behind the Scenes & Cultural Impact
- The film grows out of La bola negra, a play Federico García Lorca was writing when he was killed in 1936. Only about four pages survive: a young man in Granada is rejected by a private club whose members vote with white and black balls. UNIR
- Los Javis blended those fragments with Alberto Conejero's play La piedra oscura, which follows a young soldier guarding Lorca's partner Rafael Rodríguez Rapún during the Civil War. Demócrata
- Singer Guitarricadelafuente leads the cast in his acting debut, alongside Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close. SensaCine
- At Cannes, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi shared the Best Director prize with Paweł Pawlikowski, and the film went on to win the People's Choice Award at Toronto, the first non-English-language winner there in 15 years. Screen Daily
- Back home it became a phenomenon: by early November it had sold about 5.4 million tickets and earned €36.7 million, making it the third highest-grossing Spanish film ever. Euronews
- Netflix picked it up for an Oscar run, and it's Spain's Oscar hopeful for Best International Feature. Variety
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