"It is not a monument, it is a failure": 'The New Yorker' harshly criticizes 'The Black Ball'

BarcelonaIn recent weeks, the release of the film La bola negra in the United States and Canada has not stopped bringing good news to Spanish cinema. The success has been unstoppable and has spread among film critics, and some media outlets have even come to consider the film a strong candidate for the Oscars in various categories. And the success is also reflected in the public's reception. According to the specialized outlet The Hollywood Reporter, this weekend the film will be able to be seen in 465 movie theaters, after opening in only four theaters on October 16.

However, the film has not pleased everyone. Faced with the positive reviews from the majority of media in the United States, the prestigious magazine The New Yorkerhas positioned itself against the film by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. American film critic Justin Chang has lashed out against the film: "It is not a monument, it is a failure," he noted at the end of the review published in the section The current cinema.

Although he highlights the work of some of the actors such as Miguel Bernardeau, Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas and Glenn Close, Justin Chang considers the film to be too long and ambitious for what it ends up achieving, because the three stories that make up the film lack "substance". "It is as if the directors, clinging to a rigid and thematic narrative scheme, were incapable of placing the characters, the dialogues and the action at the service of their ambitious general goals," says the critic in the article titled "The insistent monumentality of La bola negra".

Chang has also directly attacked Ambrossi and Calvo: "At heart, they are old-school romantics, sensitive to the provocative thrill of what is forbidden and, consequently, skeptical of modernity and its all-too-accessible rewards," he pointed out. The only one of the lead actors the critic praises is Bernardeau, whom he describes as "intensely charismatic in his portrayal of Rafael".

Be that as it may, Justin Chang's review contrasts with the film's warm reception in the United States, where it boasts an 85% positive professional rating and 97% among audiences, according to the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Furthermore, specialized magazines such as Variety have dedicated covers to recognizing the work of the Javis.