Nueve Reinas is a film about con men. The cover reads “If you think you’ve got it figured out…You’ve been conned.” Well that’s fine, if that was true. Sadly it isn’t so.
I’m not saying this is a bad film, but I think it has been overly hyped due to a new renaissance in film from the Latin quarter. The film isn’t exactly new, but then I guess the age of the film is irrelevant if the quality is good. The English remake, Criminal, is by far an inferior product and best avoided.
The chemistry between Gaston Pauls and Ricardo Darin is quite entertaining and works very well. They initially meet at a petrol station where Juan (Pauls) tries to run a con with the lady at the till. Having succeeded, he notices the lady at the till change just as he’s about to leave and decides to run the scam a second time. After getting caught, he is jumped in the shop by Marcos (Darin) who pulls him out of the job by posing as a cop in order to get Juan out of the mess.
Marcos proposes a day with himself, to learn the ropes and to make a few cons which would earn him a bit of cash. Juan reluctantly agrees, and decides to go along with the plan. Marcos is presented as the daredevil con artist, willing to take a chance, will to go for the most difficult cons. Juan is the timid con, he doesn’t like to con old ladies, and seems to walk around the streets of Buenos Aires with a conscience while trying to con people.
Out of the blue, Marcos gets a call from his sister who works at a highly established hotel. She states that he’s needed right away. Both are not really on speaking terms, due to a family squabble over the inheritance of their grandmother’s estate. Marcos agrees to visit and takes Juan with him.
The film works well enough, but this idea has been done before, and better. I’m trying hard to think of examples, not because I don’t know any, but because there are times when you need to remember something and your mind goes blank
When they get there, Marcos is greet with coldness by his sister Valeria (played by the lovely Leticia Bredice). A stunning body matched with a permanent pout on her face. If she pouted any more her face would come off. She takes them to the reason for the call. An old man (I forget the name, let’s call him Stan) has collapsed with illness in the hotel she works at. He’s also a con artist, and has worked with Marcos before. He offers Marcos a proposal: Stan has created a copy of stamps called Nueve Reinas, or Nine Queens. These stamps are valuable enough to fetch a lot of money, ranging in hundreds of thousands. Stan is attempting to meet with a very wealthy man, who is known to have an interest in the stamps. The deal needs to be done that day.
As you an probably guess, the two young pretenders decides to take on the job and do so with the intention of a 90% cut seeing as the old guy is fucked up anyway, and is no position to call anyone due to lack of time. The deal is agreed and Juan and Marcos set off to clinch the deal and make a con that will set them up for life. Juan is sadly in a position where his father was caught for doing something similar and has ended up behind bars. Juan needs 70,000 to bribe the Judge and to let him go. He has ten days left, if by that time the bribe is not given, a new Judge will be appointed and likely not to take bribes. Juan feels the need to go along in order to gain a percentage to free his father, as well as making a net sum for himself.
What follows is the con, and several other sub cons, with perhaps one bigger con. The question is who is conning who, and who is involved in the con. Not to be a big headed cunt, nor to boast, as I am sure many others did this too, but I figured out the con pretty much immediately. Many clues are given all through the film, which in some regards spoiled the film for me. I did see the film, partially a while back, and decide to see it again from start to end and it didn’t make it easier, because the same clues that made me come to the conclusion were still there.
Although I didn’t know how it would end as such, seeing as I would need to see the end of the film to know whether or not the outcome was as I thought, it was still all a bit too predictable. In some respects it plays very much like a Hollywood film, with the clues being far too transparent and obvious for the viewer to pick up. The incidents are so predictable that you have to wonder whether it was to make it more convincing for the characters, or to make it easy for the viewer. It sort of fails in both aspects, and yet also succeeds.
The acting performances were pretty good. Pauls plays his part very well, looking this way and that, looking as though he is struggling with his conscience. Equally Darin is hilarious and also chilling as a character that will stab his own family in the back, if it means a lot of money. And yet the set ups he pulls in order to get away with the whole deal is rib ticklingly funny.
The chemistry between Gaston Pauls and Ricardo Darin is quite entertaining and works very well
I very much loved Bredice, both in looks and her character Valeria. She’s a stuck up, cold hearted bitch, in much the same way as her brother, but she seems to justify her behaviour for all the right reasons, while at the same time living with her younger brother, Frede, and trying to clear debts, thanks to Marcos. She’s quite delicious, and very fiery, and the character is exploited in this manner to brilliant effect.
The film works well enough, but this idea has been done before, and better. I’m trying hard to think of examples, not because I don’t know any, but because there are times when you need to remember something and your mind goes blank. I guess one of the better examples, if it can be compared, is The Usual Suspects. Who is the killer? Who’s setting up who? Of course by the time the film ends, it’s obvious. Even during the film, you suspect but are never 100% sure right until the very last moment, and it’s pulled off with such style and panache, thanks mainly due to Singer’s mastercraft direction. Fabian Beilinksy almost does the same, but it’s not the lack of suspense, it’s the far too obvious clues that give the game away.
Still, this film is still a cut about the average, and is very entertaining, even if it’s a little pretentious in it’s belief that it could distract the viewer. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out, but you don’t have to a cynical bastard and avoid seeing a fun film. I think as debuts go, this is a pretty solid effort and I look forward to more from the director.
Verdict: Enjoyable & entertaining, even if a little too predictable.