<< Back 10/23/02 'Flicks' By Hunter Pope Nine Queens Spanish with English subtitles Writer and director: Fabian Bielinsky Cast: Ricardo Darin (Son of the Bride), Gaston Pauls, Leticia Bredice Rated: R — language See if this makes sense. I rented an import movie from Argentina called “Nine Queens,” which depicts the life of two con artists in Buenos Aires. I thought the lofty reviews by critics were just a smoke screen for a mediocre movie. But, I conned myself because the movie ended up being a brilliant grifter flick. It conned me from the beginning and kept making me look like a fool until the end. So, I was conned into believing the movie to be no good, but the movie ended up conning me because it was good. If you’re saying, “What the hell?” at this point, then I’ve made my point. You’ll use the same interrogative when viewing the instant classic, “Nine Queens.” No one is what he or she seems, and if they do seem what they seem, then you’re going to be fooled. Watching “Nine Queens” is like being the sucker in a card game. The movie has the ultimate poker face, and even the most daring of guesses will not come close to what the movie has in its hand. The movie begins with Juan (Gastón Pauls) doing a bill-changing scam on a cashier. The grift works, but Juan becomes greedy. He goes back for a second round with the new cashier. However, the old cashier walks out of the back, sees Juan, and declares she’s been robbed. In steps Marcos (an impressive Ricardo Darin), who flashes a police badge and declares he will take this infidel Juan to the police station. Once outside, Marcos reveals to Juan that he too is con artist. Marcos sees a lot of the younger Juan in him, and he wants to teach the kid a few tricks. Juan is dubious at first, but Marcos takes his protégé on a few stylish swindles to prove to the younger that he is a professional con. Juan bites, and the two decide to become day partners. Although partners, the twosome could not be any more different. Marcos lives for the scam. He has no qualms about robbing a senior citizen out of their monthly paycheck. Juan is on the con because he believes he has no choice. His father is deathly ill, and Juan needs money fast. (Un) fortunately, his father used to be as oily as Marcos. The elder used to teach the young Juan every trick of the grift. Against his father’s wishes, Juan has returned to the shady game. Within several minutes of their initial meeting, the snaky duo is clued in to a half million-dollar heist. An old partner of Marcos beckons them to a Hilton hotel where Marcos’ sexually ambient sister, Valeria (Leticia Bredice), works as a concierge. Valeria loathes her brother more than leprosy, and she chides him for making past deals on her watch at the hotel. Marcos brushes her off, but it’s obvious that Juan is smitten by the lithe Valeria. Marcos and Juan meet the old swindler (who has serious heart problems), and he enlists the pair to sell a forged set of extremely rare stamps called the “Nine Queens.” The sucker to be is the lavishly rich and slobberingly drunk Gandolfo (Ignasi Abadal). Juan, however, still has his doubts. Marcos is an elite grifter. It could be possible that Marcos, his sister Valeria, and the old man could be trying to pull one over on him. The suspicions rise when Valeria agrees to sleep with Gandolfo in exchange for some of the riches. Now who other than a con artist would do such a thing? The stakes get pushed even higher when the forged set is stolen by an apparent group of strangers. Juan and Marcos must now buy the original set, and they must come up with their own money to do so. Juan’s worries kudzu because now he has to put his life savings (to fund an operation for his ailing father) on the line. Also, how is it possible that the owner of the real stamps is in the same vicinity as the owner of the forged stamps? Hmmm ... The movie, at this point, seems a convoluted mess. That’s the idea. Director Fabian Bielinsky (in his film debut) wants the viewer to feel as paranoid as the two protagonists. He wants us to make so many guesses that we’ll come up with the answer and then decry it several minutes later. The cool thing about “Nine Queens” is that it doesn’t just rely on dialogue to create a brain squeezer (unlike David Mamet’s irritating approach on flicks like “The Spanish Prisoner”). Bielinsky uses the urban backdrop of Buenos Aires to further the enigma of the film. Even facial gestures and mood settings keep the viewer perplexed. Of all the characters, Marcos is the most complex. Does he really want a new understudy in Juan, or does he need the kid as a patsy? Does Valeria really hate Marcos? And is she using her sexuality to dupe the love-struck Juan? Is anybody what they seem, or are they all conning each other? Do they even realize that the other person is a con? I could divulge the answers, but then I would be cheating the viewer of a ripping good yarn. Or am I? Who or what do you trust? Is it a lowly film critic with nothing to lose? Or is it a movie that relies on your dollars for existence? Good luck. (Hunter Pope writes about movies and music for The Smoky Mountain News. He can be reached at w.h.pope@worldnet.att.net)