As in: White ball means yes; Blackball means no.
asserted
Blackball → mean → no
“Blackball!”, the Crane brothers gleefully yelled to veto each other’s choices as they put together a dinner party guest list.
asserted
they → yell → list
But the sprawling and deeply moving Spanish film “La Bola Negra,” which recently won the all-important People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the top prize at the Hamptons International Film Festival, should be enthusiastically embraced, not coldly shoved aside.
asserted
which → sprawl → Festival
A profound World War II-era gay drama — though not at all what you’d expect from that brief description — it’s one of the best movies of the year.
asserted
it → expect → year
Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, collaborators who go by the fun nickname “Los Javis,” the modestly budgeted film is reminiscent of “The Brutalist” in how it achieves surprising and tactile period visual majesty with pennies.
asserted
it → direct → pennies
Fifteen-million-dollar “La Bola” looks a lot better than films that were 20 times more costly to make.
asserted
that → look → films
It’s hard to shake the haunting image of dust-covered man scaling the rubble of a pile of museum statues, or celebratory fireworks on a beach as a young fighter’s conscience is privately tortured.
asserted
conscience → ’ → beach
There’s a surreal snow-covered mountain straight out of Narnia and a paralyzing scene involving a hand and torso that’s as tragically romantic as it gets.
asserted
it → ’ → hand
A detailed puzzle, “La Bola” bounces back and forth between different years: 1932, 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and then a giant leap to 2017.
asserted
puzzle → bounce → 2017
Some will be frustrated that the relationship between the trio of threads is not immediately made clear.
asserted
relationship → frustrate → threads
There is tremendous satisfaction in the “a-ha!” moment when we finally understand what binds a villager with big-city dreams in ‘32 to a trembling soldier in ‘37 and a young man looking for answers in the 2010s.
asserted
what → be → 2010s
The emotional center of “La Bola” is, appropriately, smack dab in the middle: Sebastián (Guitarricadelafuente), a sensitive trumpet player whose town in Spain is bombed by the Italians in 1937 right as they were happily heralding their arrival with music and a party.
asserted
they → bomb → music
His mother is killed in the supposedly accidental blast, and he’s forced to join up with the Franco’s Nationalists.
asserted
he → kill → Nationalists
Guarding the infirmary, quiet Sebastián becomes infatuated with an injured prisoner from the rival Republican faction.
asserted
Sebastián → guard → faction
He doesn’t know his name — it’s Rafael (the striking and serene Miguel Bernardeau) — and they rarely speak.
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they → know → name
At first hesitant and confrontational, their tie deepens and intensifies.
asserted
tie → deepen → ?
In the most basic sense, this is a “Romeo and Juliet” story with two lovers caught between oppositional warring “houses.”
asserted
this → catch → houses
But what gives Sebastián and Rafael so much power is that precious little is openly expressed between them.
asserted
little → give → them
Individually and together, they’re coming to terms with who they are.
asserted
they → come → terms
Revelatory Guitarricadelafuente, a wonderful singer making his acting debut, is heartbreaking as the runt of his division.
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Guitarricadelafuente → make → division
Smartly, he also sings the film’s sublime signature song, “La Nieve.”
asserted
he → sing → song
The actor is a special find who will no doubt have a hot Hollywood career after this.
asserted
who → have → this
Skipping ahead to 2017, the estranged grandfather of Alberto (Carlos González) has just died and left him a mysterious inheritance.
asserted
grandfather → skip → inheritance
What’s in it, a manuscript, leads him on an emotional and revealing investigation into his family’s unknown past.
asserted
’s → ’ → past
The 1932 portion is the most ethereal and uncanny of the three: A local man (Milo Quifes) tries to gain membership in his village’s exclusive men’s club, only he’s “blackballed” because of scandalous rumors going around town.
asserted
he → try → town
All of this seems random and disparate, but in the end the ingredients potently emulsify.
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ingredients → seem → end
Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close make small but meaningful appearances as, respectively, a forward-thinking cabaret singer during the war named Nene and Isabelle, a scholar of the writer Federico Garcia Lorca in 2017.
asserted
Cruz → make → 2017
Lorca, the Spanish gay writer of “Yerma” and “The House of Bernarda Alba” who was killed by the Nationalists in 1936, is a major force in the movie.
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who → kill → movie
He actually wrote a play called “La Bola Negra” in 1936 that was left unfinished because of his murder.
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that → write → murder
The rare drama of the day to feature a gay character, Lorca only was able to complete four pages.
asserted
Lorca → feature → pages
With their gorgeous movie, Los Javis, as ambitious as they are empathetic, let Lorca’s partial piece live on and graciously expound on it, while building bridges between generations of struggle.
asserted
piece → let → struggle
The Aporia
