In defense of La Bola Negra

This essay originally appeared on Them, and contains spoilers for La Bola Negra. In a review that has sent shockwaves through the corner of social media in which an Oscars race feels like it has existential consequences, New Yorker critic Justin Chang wrote that La Bola Negra filmmakers Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo “mean to erect a cinematic monument for the ages,” but instead produced “a film that insists, arrogantly and aggressively on its own monumentality.” Elsewhere in his scathing critique, Chang writes that the Spanish awards season hopeful “wants to be a sweeping historical epic of gay longing,” grading it poorly against that high benchmark. Means to, insists, wants…. If you’re that, well, insistent on assigning metatextual agency to a film, you better be damn sure you’ve got a good read on its aims.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.