Nine Queens
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Movie Reviews of Nine Queens
Movie Review: Move over Mamet
Summary: 4 Stars
Fabian Bielinsky's "Nine Queens" is what David Mamet wanted "The Heist" to be: jazzy, non-linear, coherent, empathetic, intelligent and tremendously interesting."Nine Queens" stars Ricardo Darin fresh off the success of "Son of the Bride" and Gaston Pauls as two petty crooks after the big score who stumble upon a scheme to make many thousands of dollars involving a rare print of a Weimar Republic stamp called the "9 Queens."
As is necessary in this type of film, there are many plot twists and turns that make sense here but in "The Heist" seem arbitrary and tiresome.
Ricardo Darin stars as Marco, a Butch Cassidy to Gaston Paul's Juan or Sundance Kid. Marco hooks up with Juan while Juan is in the process of a low-life money switching grift in a convenience store and Marco saves Juan from serving time by way of some fast thinking and manipulation of the police. At this point Marco takes Juan under his wing and into his confidence for a day to see if the the chemistry is right between the two so as continue as partners.
Through some far-fetched but somehow natural coincidences, the duo comes upon a scheme to sell the set of stamps to a rich financier out of which both can make 1000's of American dollars much sought after in Argentina. Both Marco and Juan must come up with some of their own hard (but suspect) cash of their own to close the deal.
Ricardo Darin's role as Marco is diametrically opposed to the role he played as the son in "Son of the Bride": here is is sneaky, perverse, self-indulgent and amoral yet he is able to make Marco appealing and positive. He is a true beacon of the South American Cinema along with Norma Aleandro. Gaston Pauls matches Darin's feverish, naked portrayal with his own style of boyish intelligence and chutzpah.
"9 Queens"is another example of the South American Cinema's resurgence as a major force in World Cinema. It's a taut, expertly directed (by Fabian Bielinsky), intelligent caper movie that ranks up there with the best of Mamet and Frankenheimer: a must see for all those concerned with World Cinema and the emrerging third world.
Movie Review: very good film with some holes not patched up well
Summary: 4 Stars
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.Movie Review: Who's Cheating Whom?
Summary: 4 Stars
Since I have an interest in stamps, Nine Queens was originally recommended to me because of its superficial philatelic angle. I watched it through several times without the subtitles, and then once with English subtitles to pick up anything I might have missed in Argentine Spanish. Well, if you need the English subtitles in order to understand the film, forget about it. Translated English is sporadically provided for only about a quarter of the film, in other words, the subtitles are next to useless. But if you have a decent command of the Spanish language, then Nine Queens is a very entertaining film about a world of con men, each trying to outsmart the other.
The plot has been rehashed by the industry reviewer and others, so I won't get too deeply into that. Ricardo Darin (Marcos) and Gaston Pauls (Juan) are excellent as a bad guy/good guy pair of petty thieves who dream of hitting the big one. A block of 9 stamps featuring an unidentifiable queen becomes the centerpiece in this drama. As the action escalates and the intrigues begin, it is sometimes hard to figure out who's cheating whom. It finally seems that the pair are the big losers when Marcos goes to the stamp buyer's bank to cash a check stupidly accepted by his sister for the block of stamps and finds it closed with a mob of media personnel and angry depositors in near-riot out in front. Though now the game seems at an end, the real ending is quite a surprise. Watch it and find out!
In addition to the fine performances of Darin and Pauls, Leticia Bredice performs well in the role of Marcos' somewhat attractive but somewhat severe sister. The sights and sounds of life in Buenos Aires are an added bonus. This is a keeper.
Movie Review: Give it a shot.
Summary: 4 Stars
This is good. Not great for me, but I guess that heist films aren't entirely my thing. Clearly, from line one of this you know that someone is playing someone in an elaborate scam. It's about making some money the sort of easy way. One knows that in the last scene all will be explained. That's what happens here. In a way, then, there are no surprises. What's good about this is that the actors are solid, interesting, charismatic. It's lovely to see actors other than the Hollywood few doing their thing. It makes it more engaging, not less, to have to get used to mannerisms, speach patterns, expresssions of actors unfamiliar to a US audience. Part of me wants to see these actors in US films, where they'll get bigger exposure, but on the other hand I wouldn't want them to suffer that way - like Gerard Depardieu, Irene Jacob, Isabelle Adjani (did you see Ishtar?), etc. So, forget that. Just watch this. Hang out in Argentina. Be reminded that Latin America in a booming, thriving part of the modern world. Read the subtitles. A film like this is less cute, but more entertaining than any Ocean's Eleven. Give it a shot. And, by the way, this film has very little violence in it. It's an interesting reminder that a story can be exciting, intriguing, crime-ridden, but not be a blood bath.Movie Review: surprises in unexpected ways
Summary: 4 Stars
Two conmen in Buenos Aires meet casually and decide to spend the day working together. In the course of the day they come across what may well be the job of a lifetime; selling fake stamps to a spanish millionaire. The job has a lot of risks, not to mention the fact that the two men don't trust each other, but the stakes are high.
For most of the movie, their dilemmas drive the plot. The characters are believable, and one epathizes with them. Juan, the younger of the two is desperately trying to scrape together the money to get his old man out of jail. Marcos, the other one, is over the hill and down and out.
This isn't the first movie of its type, so the viewer is always expecting the kind of unexpected twists which define the genre. You are always asking yourself if one of the two men is going to screw the other one over, and if so which one.
At this point, the movie runs the risk of going for one of the tried and tired formulas with which such flicks usually end, so its all the more remarkable that it manages to surprise you all the same with an unexpected and well executed ending.
Definetly worth a watch.