‘La Bola Negra' Trailer: Spain's 3-Hour Queer Epic Is an Oscar Contender Heavy on Ambition ..and Kitsch

Fresh off its People's Choice Award win at TIFF just a couple of weeks ago, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's "La Bola Negra" finally has a trailer.

I'm clearly in the minority on this one. Having caught it in a festival setting, I'll need a second viewing to fully settle my thoughts, but for now my feelings are decidedly mixed. The maximalist style is undeniably striking, especially in that bravura opening stretch, but the film's cranked-to-eleven emotionalism too often tips over into melodrama and outright kitsch. Its ambitions consistently outpace its execution, and the heavy-handed messaging? I couldn't stand it.

Regardless, this film has become one of the more reliable Oscar contenders out there, and while a Spanish-language, nearly three-hour queer melodrama isn't your typical crowd-pleaser, this one keeps connecting with audiences. It took the Audience Award at San Sebastián this weekend, won the People's Choice Award at Toronto just a week ago, topped the Telluride poll a week before that, and if course, won the best director prize at Cannes.

The film is built as a triptych, moving across three timelines: 1932, 1937 and 2017. Each follows a different man, their lives quietly linked by desire, repressed sexuality, lingering pain and the inheritance they pass down.

1932: A young closeted man attempts to gain entry into an exclusive casino club in Granada.
1937: In the middle of the Spanish Civil War, a village trumpeter falls for a handsome prisoner.
2017: A drifting historian starts digging into his family history after receiving a mysterious inheritance from the grandfather he never knew.

Guitarricadelafuente leads the cast alongside Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes and Lola Dueñas, while Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close turn up in small supporting roles.

Spain has already selected "La Bola Negra" as its official submission for Best International Feature at the 99th Academy Awards. Netflix is handling the release, opening it in theaters on November 6th before it hits the streamer on December 4th.

Watch the trailer below.

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