Review: 'La Bola Negra' captures the sweep of history and the intimacy of personal legacy

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Set us as preferred A self-consciously grand, sweeping epic about some of the most intimate and personal aspects of people’s lives, “La Bola Negra” explores the strands that bind generations together in unexpected ways.Using the history of gay male desire in different time periods — dangerous, clandestine, outlawed and at long last fitfully accepted — the film examines legacy and what gets handed down across time.The story takes place during different time periods in Spain, opening in 1937, skipping back to 1932 and leaping ahead to 2017, then moving as a time-tumbling tale among the three strands with fluid transitions becoming a defining trait of the film’s storytelling.

(The ping of a Grindr app notification when we first enter the modern world is both cheeky and uniquely ties the eras together.)Directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known collectively as Los Javis, are prolific television creators and media personalities in their native Spain, with “La Bola Negra” their second feature film following the 2017 religious-themed musical comedy “La Llamada.” This latest project is co-written with Alberto Conejero, whose play “La piedra oscura” was a point of inspiration along with the life and work of gay dissident poet and playwright Federico García Lorca.Entertainment & Arts The film opens in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War as a small rural village prepares to welcome Italian comrades but is instead met by gunfire and bombs.

A young trumpet player, Sebastián (played by the singer-songwriter known as Guitarricadelafuente, making his film debut), is soon conscripted to fight for the fascists.Earlier, in 1932, a young man named Carlos (Milo Quifes) wants to be accepted by an exclusive men’s club, but his membership is repeatedly rejected because of suspicions that he is homosexual.

Then i...