Nine Queens

Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas) (2000)

Runtime: 114 minutes

Directed by: Fabian Bielinsky

Starring: Ricardo Darin, Gaston Pauls, Leticia Bredice, Tomas Fonzi

From: Many Argentinian companies; Sony Pictures Classic put it out in the United States

To close out my month where I watch plenty of foreign films, I decided the last film should be one I've seen before, but not in years. This is a movie from Argentina that got a decent amount of attention in the United States, to the point that in '04 the American remake Criminal was made, which I actually saw on the big screen, believe it or not. I remembered it as being fine but I do have both movies on disc now.

The plot description from the IMDb, then the Letterboxd review: “Two con artists try to swindle a stamp collector by selling him a sheet of counterfeit rare stamps (the "nine queens").” That is true; it turns out that there are many twists and turns in this story and yes a woman is involved in the tale.

To close out this list I watched my last foreign movie of the month, and it was one I had seen before, but not in years. I did see this before the American remake (Criminal), which believe it or not I saw on the big screen. I'll rewatch that soon also.

If you don't know this film is all about hustlers (i.e. con men or whatever you want to call them), such as the ones you saw in American Hustle (or heck, The Monkey Hustle), running scams to rip off innocent people of their money. An experienced con artist notices a novice and the veteran takes the rookie under his wing. After some tricks are done by both guys, a huge scam is introduced where both guys are set to earn a lot of cash via the act of selling extremely rare and valuable stamps ... but many twists & turns and complications happen in this serpentine story where both gentlemen try to act slick and all-knowing but they experience family issues and assorted drama.

Why I rate it so highly is that it's such an entertaining and fun tale, where you get a good amount of humor along the way. There are plenty of colorful and interesting characters you see throughout the story. I wouldn't dare spoil any of the surprises along the way except to say that it's a thing in this movie, and it's done so well you'd want to see the movie again to view certain events in the right light. 

To me that is effective with such a film where at all times you're not 100% sure if the two main characters are being entirely forthright with each other, let alone all the other players in this tale. If you enjoy crime dramas then this is a must-see. I'll return tomorrow night.