Customer Reviews

Nine Queens

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The movie keeps you guessing to the end. It is not one of those predictable one-dimensional Hollywood flicks.

Not one dull minute. Thumbs up!

I admit that I'm a sucker for con movies. The idea of the clever heist intrigues me. What this film has, that many others don't, is the appropriate characterization to understand the deal in play. As it unfolds, you're exposed to so many possible angles and, more importantly, plausible angles that you can't let your guard down the entire length of the film. A very enjoyable movie!

I am always hesitant to see a movie after it receives so many rave reviews, becuase it is often dificult for such movies to meet my expectations. This film, is one of the few examples in which it actually exceeded all of the hype.

It's a con movie, in the tradition of classics like "The Sting" but it moves much quicker. It's not until the credits start rolling that the viewer gets an idea of how complete the heist was and exactly who was in charge. I saw this movie first in Europe, and was incredibly disappointed that it was not released in the US, so I could watch it again, because it is a movie that you can watch again and again and gather more clues with each viewing.

I was sad to hear that a US company bought the rights to the story. It will be difficult for them no to butcher it, because this was perfect.

WOW!!! Great Movie. Gotta see it, gotta have it. A never guessing ending. Lovely actuation.In fact. EXCELLENT!!!

I lived in Argentina for nearly four years, mostly in Buenos Aires, the capital city and location of this plot. It is well crafted, well interpreted and well produced. The characters are quite believable. The "Porteno" (sorry, no enye) is world famous for his slick tounge and lack of scruples. I KNOW some people like that in Argentina. If you shake hands with these scam artists count your fingers before leaving the meeting :-).

Great movie.
Enjoy.

Sub-par con artist flick, two con men attempt to pull off the impossible---selling a valuable stamp set to a wealthy financier. The twists and turns that occur are outrageous---and the ending is so weak, it makes the viewer feel conned. Then again, perhaps that is what the director intended. Not recommended.

Nine Queens is a heist flick, and as such is quite predictable in its unpredictability. After the first few minutes of the movie, you know something's not quite as it seems, that there's a part of the con that you're just not seeing, but that you know is there...and that's part of what's great about this movie.

Set in Buenos Aires, this is the story of two con artists, Marcos, played by Ricardo Darin (Son of the bride) and Juan, played by Gastón Pauls (Nuts for Love), who decide, reluctantly, that they should work together in order to have a big hit, namely, the sale of a fake stamp collection, The Nine Queens. The acting, while not extraordinary, is successful in presenting these two criminals as they perform a variety of cons. The real gem here is the writing; witty dialogues and smart cons fill this film, more precisely when things start to go wrong at every turn for Juan and Marcos and they have to improvise for the con to work. The movie also stars Leticia Bredice as Marcos' unapproving sister.

If you're a fan of the genre, you may be able to discover the twist before the end of the movie, but still, it's a fun ride, and it's refreshingly different from other heist films (i.e. Ocean's eleven, Confidence, et al) as it presents a livelier, fresher Southamerican spirit.

As a foot note, this movie was remade in english by Steven Soderbergh's and George Clooney's production company, Section 8, which coincidentally also made Ocean's eleven and Ocean's twelve, two similarly themed films. The U.S. version stars John C. Reilly (Chicago, Boogie nights) and Diego Luna (Y tu mamá también, Havana nights).

Despite its title, this Argentinean drama is not about a gay softball team, not that there's anything wrong with that but if that is what you are looking for then you'd be better served watching "The Broken Hearts Club". The title here refers to a series of very valuable items (I won't reveal what even though it's not a big revelation, but I've gotten so tired of reviewers telling just a little too much) and the film is about (among other things) two con men's attempt to sell fake versions of them to a high-profile collector.

Though writer/director Fabián Bielinsky (who beat approx. 350 other applicants in a screenwriting contest in his native Argentina a la HBO's "Project Greenlight", but with much better results as evidenced by this film) borrows (or pays homage depending on your perspective) heavily from David Mamet's "House of Games" (which is one of my favorite titles in this genre) "Nine Queens" earns its place on the table by bringing it's own a very low key flavor and an incredible eye for supporting characters.

This release is unlike the recent onslaught of wonderful films coming from Latin America (especially Mexico and Argentina) and Spain in that it is made by a first time director and is not as visually stunning as say "Amores Perros", "Burnt Money", or the spectacular "Sex and Lucia", but that should not be a deterrent to watching this film as it's low key direction and nondescript setting make it stand out in it's own way. At times the stakes don't seem as high as they should, or there is no fun camera work, but that makes the process all the more subtle, and, without giving anything away, I was totally surprised (in the best of ways) by the last ten minutes of this movie.

The performances are top notch, with special emphasis on the supporting characters as they all make their presence felt and add deft comedy to spark the only aspect of this movie that could have used some finetuning. I am referring to the script's choice to focus almost exclusively on the two main characters. I think that the film who would have benefitted from expanding the scope to include 2 or 3 other central characters to shake things up and bring an even great sense of urgency to the mix.

The above is only a minor quibble and it is compensated by a story that is well grounded and a script that makes almost 100% of the characters' respective actions seem plausible. Not many movies manage to make you feel the fly by the seat of your pants decision that one of the led characters has to make in trying to get a second chance to do something that was botched up the first time around. You truly feel for what the guy winds up doing as it could be one step forward, 100 steps back as far as why he's doing what he's doing. Or is he?....

I understand that a US production company has bought the rights to this movie and it will be remade. I hope that, unlike many efforts ("Vanilla Sky" or "Vanished") that attempt to translate and/or rework the original material, whomever winds up being associated with a remake can take what works and improve upon it. While I am not a believer that all independent movies are good or that all Hollywood blockbusters are necessarily bad, the trend to grab succesful foreign films and to Americanize them requires a great talent no matter what the budget turns out to be. One thing that the Hollywood studios need to look at is the great talent coming from all parts of the world. The critical successs of recently released US debut by the director of "Amores Perros" may be a sign that there is hope for better movies in an era of sequels with increasing explosions ("Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle) on one end, and the bad navel-gazing small films (the over-rated "The Good Girl"), which left me equally underwhelmed.

Although unrelated to my enjoyment of this movie, the DVD translation of the movie needs an overhaul as key names as spelled wrong and a few important/funny/observational lines get lost in the translation. This should not deter anyone from enjoying the many delights to be found in this movie, but I do mention it so that "Sony International Classics" takes note.

yeah, you can write a script about con artists with as many twists as you like if you could twisted logically and reasonablely. the nine queens is such a movie that twisted beautifully when sitting and watching it plays itself out. but once you try to flash back the whole story, there are still lot of inexplanable holes that might spoil your first good impression of the film. yeah, try to think about who's bringing whom to the hotel to meet the supposed targeted con artists and how it could be arranged such encountering. should top notched con artists know each other or at least know who's in the market doing certain sting? a phony sister working in the hotel and help the other con to rip off her phony brother for 200gs? and how this scam is arranged and turned out to be the opposite? how? or you might explain it to yourself that the phony sister actually does not work in the hotel, then why other hotel workers would know her and let her walking around like a real employee? how could the con ring know that the issuing check bank would bankrupt right after the check payment and would make the check as a piece of useless toilet paper? does it mean that the bank itself is also involved or the mob outside of the bank also involved? how could the cons control such perfect timing with such such huge issue? furthermore, you think a smart con artist would accept a check? well, he might accept money order, cashier's check, travelers check, but definitely not a bank check that is so easy to be bounced. and how a street con artist doing daily small ripoffs would own 200gs? and if he's such a small timer already owns 200gs, he would definitely have retired. the whole arrangement of this story once retrospect carefully, those totally impossible twists would become more and more unacceptable. but if the sister does not show up in the final scene and become juan's lover, all might be overlooked and accepted tolerablely.

An outstanding movie about a couple of Argentinean cons who are out to swindle everyone they encounter. The lead actors portray Juan and Marcos as a couple of loveable bad guys that will amaze you with the tricks they pull to get money. It seems everyone they encounter is going to get ripped off as they pull off some incredible and hilarious scams. They meet per chance while Juan is pulling a con and Marcos witnesses the game pulled on a gullible store clerk. Juan gets caught and Marcos acts like he is a cop/detective and hauls him away only to reveal himself as a fellow con. A friendship develops and soon they are showing each other their best tricks and plan a major scam involving a forged copy of a valuable stamp set, the nine queens. The film is brilliant, extremely well written and moves at a fast pace that keeps you guessing throughout the movie. Part of the beauty of this film is the bright script(it was a winner in a national script writting contest) that keeps you wondering what the heck is going on. To thoroughly enjoy the movie you may have to succumb to just watching rather than trying to figure it out because everything is not as it seems. There are a lot of twists and turns , cons scaming each other, new characters introduced to complicate things, eventually leading up to the finale where the quest for unloading the fake stamps reveals exactly who is conning who. If you like movies where you play mind games with the movie trying to figure it out than you will love this movie. It is a delightful , witty caper movie that is fresh and totally entertaining. Highly recommended cinema from Argentina that is equal or better than the best from Hollywood.