Movie Review: In Spain's 'La Bola Negra,' a gay drama with historical sweep

“La Bola Negra” is presented as a large-scale Spanish drama with a classical core and a modern spirit, directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. The film moves across 1932, 1937, and 2017 to follow gay men during periods of upheaval, suppression, and reckoning. With a reported production cost of $15 million, it has a 47-day theatrical run set by Netflix before it begins streaming in December. The story is partly inspired by Federico García Lorca pages from an unfinished play and by Alberto Conejero’s “La piedra oscura.” The review highlights three intertwined arcs: a 1937 massacre in a village, a 1932 social club rejection signaled by “black balls,” and a 2017 storyline about an openly gay historian inheriting news, while dealing with strain with his mother.