Nine Queens review

 Number 400 on the top 1000 films of all time is the Argentinean crime caper 'Nine Queens.'

Juan (Gaston Pauls) is a small-time con artist who comes to the attention of the older, more experienced Marcos (Ricardo Darin.) The two partner up to scam a wealthy collector into buying counterfeit stamps.

Nine Queens was released in 2000. Four years later, the BBC released the TV series Hustle. The comparisons were plain to see - a group of con artists take down an even more villainous bad guy. Hijinks and plot twists ensue.

Nine Queens can also be favourably compared to the 1973 film The Sting with Gaston Pauls and Ricardo Darin in the roles of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The two of them were just as charismatic as Newman and Redford with the younger hotshot Juan more than capable of showing the old dog, Marcos, new tricks. Yet sometimes Marcos' experience proves more important especially upon their first meeting where he rescues Juan from a scam gone terribly wrong.

Juan's young arrogance sees him trying to pull the same scam twice in the same place. If it wasn't for Marcos, then Juan would have spent the rest of the film in jail. In films like these, there is usually a romantisation of the criminal main characters. Yes, the stamp collector Esteban Gandolfo (Ignasi Abadal) is a sleaze boy who is constantly harassing Marcos' sister Valeria (Leticia Bredice,) but neither he or Juan are angels. To raise capital, they perform small-time cons; sure it looks stylish and cool, but, for all we know, they're conning innocent people out of their hard-earned money.

Inevitably, problems start to arise in the duo's well-thought out scam and it was entertaining watching things go awry. Their counterfeit stamps are stolen by motorbike thieves who throw them in a river when they think they are worthless. This all culminates in a delightful twist ending, a la Hustle, where the con artists get their just desserts.

Nine Queens was certainly an entertaining film with charismatic performances from its lead actors, but we need to remember not to romanticise con-men. They're just as bad as the supposed criminals they're robbing.