This Is the Only Film That Could Steal ‘The Odyssey’s’ Oscar

Carla Oset/Netflix Attending a film festival can be exhausting.

It’s a quixotic mix of long lines, sleep deprivation, and never having enough time to eat or hydrate.

It’s all in the quest of finding a film that reminds you that this job is worth doing, and that cinema is, in fact, as wonderful as we believe it to be.

Over 20 films into the festival, I hadn’t found something that bowled me over.

Then I saw La Bola Negra .

Directed by Spanish duo Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo, the film is a sprawling epic about three different men.

There’s Sebastián (popular musician Guitarricadelafuente) in 1937, a soldier conscripted into the fascist army who is facing a crisis of identity after becoming intoxicated by a prisoner of war (Miguel Barnardo).

In 1932, Carlos (Milo Quifes) is dogged by rumors about his sexuality, which result in him being blackballed from his town’s prestigious social club.

Then there’s Alberto (Carlos González) in 2017, a playwright turned historian who receives an inheritance from his grandfather that could prove a major breakthrough in his work.

I won’t dare spoil how these seemingly disparate three stories converge, but it’s enormously satisfying when they do.

The film is vast and complex; the dialogue is poetic and impactful.

This is, in turn, a war drama, a musical, a literary mystery, and a sumptuous romance all in one.

It’s massively ambitious, but Ambrossi and Calvo’s script (written with Alberto Conejero) handles every shift and metamorphosis beautifully.

It’s a film that suits going in relatively blind, and letting its sheer sense of scale and scope wash over you.