La Bola Negra

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La Bola Negra

R

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2h 37m

Drama

Music

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Popcornmeter

87%

Tomatometer

101 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

LA BOLA NEGRA tells the story of three men whose lives are intimately connected through desire, pain and inheritance, across three different eras -- 1932, 1937, and 2017.

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Critics Consensus

An intergenerational epic bathed in striking imagery and vibrant music, La Bola Negra is a sensorial feast that movingly testifies to the perseverance of queer identity throughout history.

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Audience Says

An absolute dedication to queer love and resilience, La Bola Negra feels both larger than life and deeply intimate as it weaves through time, exploring identity and human connection.

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Barry Hertz

Globe and Mail

5 days ago

Not every film needs a sense of restraint, but there is a weightlessness to this wannabe epic’s maximalism that drains its ultimate impact.

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Lindsey Bahr

Associated Press

5 days ago

3/4

There is certainly a lot to savor in the film, not least of which is its historical consciousness and poetic portrait of homosexuality in both repressed and more permissive times.

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Wenlei Ma

The Nightly (AU)

6 days ago

4.5/5

This is truly an extraordinary film, one that will further enrich with repeated viewings. You’ll be rushing back to watch it again and again.

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Stephen Dalton

The Film Verdict

2 days ago

8/10

Spanish writer-director duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi revisit the life and legacy of queer literary icon Federico García Lorca in this ravishing if slightly ungainly epic, a prize-winning Oscar hopeful backed by Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar.

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Ruben Peralta Rigaud

Cocalecas

2 days ago

La Bola Negra is an ambitious, visually splendid, and emotionally generous work that finds in its narrative structure a convincing way to connect political history with intimate experience. [Full review in Spanish]

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Thom Ernst

Original Cin

2 days ago

A-

A captivating, sprawling epic, and nearly all of it demands your attention. It's a film that could benefit from a road map. Even then, you're likely to get lost. But getting lost is not necessarily a bad thing.

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MGT

13 hrs ago

Incredible movie! I think well be talking about this one for a long time. It touches on so many things were going through in the world today. So powerful and relevant!

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Peter G

13 hrs ago

It was fascinating and interesting film. It worked on all levels. Brilliant!

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Juan

16 hrs ago

One of those movies you will always remember. An amazing story brought to life by an amazing cast that was able to transport you and capture your attention every minute of the movie.

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Jeff C

1 day ago

This 2 hour 40 minute film attempts to tell three stories and ends up making them all boring. The screenplay is a mess that raises no dramatic questions. Most of the characters are one-dimensional, the gay ones being nothing more than gay and the straight ones being nothing more than the opponents of homosexuality. Properly told, this movie would be about a young gay failed playwright who inherits from a grandfather he never knew the lost pages of an acclaimed play about a young homosexual searching for his identity during the Spanish Civil War. The inheritance would then set the young heir in search of information about the play and how the lost pages came into his grandfather’s possession. Instead that’s the end of the movie. The first 90 minutes are just a lot of scenes of gay people pining for each other during the Spanish Civil war with zero context. As a result we have no investment in any character or dramatic question. Further, the movie has no idea how to end and languishes on with monologues and voice overs ad nauseum for almost an hour.

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NORA

1 day ago

Well developed story about Garcia Lorcas unfinished last work. The story of the generations of suppression of homosexuality was woven into heart wrenching stories. Penelope Cruz was amazing as Nen.

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JJ T

1 day ago

incredible and timeless film about forbidden love, identity, societal expectations, and the price of war

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Javier Ambrossi

Director

Javier Calvo

Director

Guitarricadelafuente

Sebastián

Miguel Bernardeau

Rafael

Penélope Cruz

Nené

Glenn Close

Isabelle

Rotten Tomatoes’ Ridiculously Early Oscar Nominations Predictions

La Bola Negra: Trailer 1

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La Bola Negra: Teaser Trailer

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Synopsis

LA BOLA NEGRA tells the story of three men whose lives are intimately connected through desire, pain and inheritance, across three different eras -- 1932, 1937, and 2017.

Director: Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
Producer: Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
Screenwriter: Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Alberto Conejero
Distributor: Netflix
Production Co: Movistar Plus+, Suma Content Films, El Deseo, Le Pacte
Rating: R (Violence/Bloody Images|Graphic Nudity|Sexual Content|Language)
Genre: Drama, Music
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 16, 2026, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 2, 2026
Runtime: 2h 37m
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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