Nine Queens (2002)

"...deliciously funny and fiendishly clever con-man comedy...  Kevin Thomas, L.A. Times
"... Fast-paced and unerringly surprising  Edward Guthmann, The San Francisco Chronicle

Editor's Note Fabian Bielinsky's directorial debut is an electrifying crime thriller that deserves to join the ranks as a classic of the genre--along with David Mamet's HOUSE OF GAMES and Bryan Singer's THE USUAL SUSPECTS. Set in a Buenos Aires that is on the verge of economic collapse, the film tells the story of Juan (Gaston Pauls), a con artist with a conscience. Trying to round up enough money to pay off his incarcerated father's debts, Juan stumbles into fellow swindler Marcos (Ricardo Darin), a far more confident, experienced criminal. When Marcos offers Juan the chance to team up for the day, his initial apprehension succumbs to the pressure of helping his father, and he agrees to the partnership. After a few minor cons, the pair unknowingly stumbles into a potentially lucrative score involving a wealthy businessman, Gandolfo, and a forged set of rare stamps, The Nine Queens. As new characters are introduced and the plot becomes more convoluted, it becomes unclear--to the audience, as well as Juan and Marcos--just who is conning whom. Bielinsky's debut feature is a magnetic, ingenious puzzle that features flawless performances by Darin and Pauls, in addition to the stellar supporting cast.

	Ricardo Darin
	Tomas Fonzi
	Gaston Pauls
	Leticia Bredice
	Marcelo Camorino - Cinematographer
	Fabian Bielinsky - Director
	Cesar Lerner - Original Music
	Fabian Bielinsky - Writer

Rolling Stone
"...Ricardo Darin gives a seductively low-key performance....NINE QUEENS leaves you feeling tense and terrific..." 04/25/2002 p.84

New York Times
"...The movie combines Hitchcock's winking tongue-in-cheek vision of a paranoid universe where everyone may be part of an elaborate conspiracy with Mr. Mamet's obsession with the finer points of gamesmanship and con artistry..." 04/19/2002 p.E25

Los Angeles Times
"...A deliciously funny and fiendishly clever con-man comedy that begins on a note of ingenuity that it then sustains with the tension of a high-wire act..." 04/19/2002 p.C14

Total Film
"...It's propulsive enough to take you for a ride, but with a political undercut to give it ballast..." 08/01/2002 p.101

Sight and Sound
"...Ingenious....Bielinsky delights in pulling the carpet from under the audience's feet..." 08/01/2002 p.46

Chicago Sun-Times
"...As one layer after another reveals a different reality beneath, we watch in bemused admiration..." 06/02/2002 p.6

Entertainment Weekly
"...Splendid....NINE QUEENS is a caper movie with an implicit, despairing vision of Argentina, yet its ambience of authority works on pure edge-of-the-moment dramatic terms as well..." 04/26/2002 p.119

Wall Street Journal
"[A]n entertaining Spanish-language debut feature by Fabian Bielinsky....[With] a Mamet-like house of mirrors..." 04/16/2010

San Francisco Examiner 8 of 10
With all the sly efficiency of a three-card monte dealer, Nine Queens proceeds at brisk clip through the intricacies of the master con, craftily forging a chain of plots and counterplots, role-playing and role-reversal, as the mismatched partners set their perfect plan into motion, and desperately improvise whenever something seemingly unforeseen goes wrong. - Joe Leydon