Nine Queens joins a line of sly thrillers about master-pupil con artists and games within games within games that includes The Sting, House of Games, and Heist. In the first five minutes, we watch an overt scam--a young Argentinian named Juan (Gastón Pauls) running the two-10s-for-a-5 hornswoggle on a convenience store clerk--then find that we have been tricked along with the bystanders as another brand of deception kicks in. And so it goes as Juan, with both trepidation and excitement, drifts into partnership for a day with an older, more cosmopolitan conman, Marcos (Ricardo Darín). Knocking around Buenos Aires--from gritty downtown to cozy neighborhood side streets to a swank hotel where wealth murmurs behind every door--these damnably resourceful scoundrels try not to miss a bet, including an epic swindle involving the titular "Nine Queens," a set of ultrarare stamps. Writer-director Fabián Bielinsky keeps a taut rein on everything, including his own cleverness. The end result is an entertainment as bracingly disciplined as it is ingenious. --Richard T. Jameson
From the Back Cover Welcome to a world of suspicion, betrayal, and intrigue, where two small-time grifters team up to pull off a big-time score involving a set of valuable counterfeit stamps known as the Nine Queens. But when the rules of the con game unexpectedly change, the two crooks find themselves pitted against each other in this taut psychological thriller in which neither the players, nor the audience, knows for sure who is playing whom.
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"Nine Queens" is the story of two small-time swindlers, Juan (Gastón Pauls) and Marcos (Ricardo Darin), who team up after meeting in a convenience store and become involved in a half million dollar deal.
Early one morning, Marcos observes Juan successfully pulling off a bill-changing scam on a cashier, and then getting caught as he attempts to pull the same trick on the next shift. Marcos steps in, claiming to be a policeman, and drags Juan out of the store. Once they are back on the street, Marcos reveals himself to be a fellow swindler with a much higher stakes game in mind, and invites Juan to be his partner in crime.
Juan is skeptical at first, but agrees to work with Marcos after he impresses him with a few sophisticated cons. A once-in-a-lifetime scheme then seemingly falls in their laps -- an old time con-man enlists Juan and Marcos to sell a forged set of extremely valuable rare stamps, The Nine Queens. The tricky negotiations that ensue bring into the picture a cast of suspicious characters including Marcos' beautiful sister Valeria (Leticia Bredice), their innocent younger brother Federico (Tomás Fonzi) who idolizes Marcos, and a slew of thieves, conmen, and pickpockets.
When two small-time thieves enter a risky, high-stakes con game together… neither the players, nor the audience, knows for sure who is playing whom in this taut psychological thriller that will keep you guessing till the very last second.
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