La Bola Negra review: 'a barrage of flashy technique and bloated plotting'

‘La Bola Negra’ is a stunning blend of literary mystery and haunted sadness

You may want to watch “La Bola Negra” more than once to absorb its intricacies and meticulously braided triple-timeline structure, but it'll be well worth it.

La Bola Negra review: Cannes-winning queer epic is a towering cinematic achievement

4/5 stars Winner of the best director prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, La Bola Negra – the new film from Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, collectively known as Los Javis – is a staggering cinematic tapestry. It functions as a speculative adaptation of a famously incomplete 20th century literary work, a heart-wrenching coming-of-age drama set at the height of the Spanish civil war and a sprawling maximalist epic of queer representation…

La Bola Negra review: 'a barrage of flashy technique and bloated plotting'

This Spanish epic may have been tipped for glory at the Oscars but it’s hard to see what all the fuss is about, writes Alistair Harkness

Film Review: "La Bola Negra" - Spain’s Queer Past Transformed into a Sweeping Historical Epic

Spanning three timelines, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s ambitious drama pairs intimate stories of repression and desire with grand cinematic spectacle.