neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Nine Queens
	Fabián Bielinsky Ricardo Darin, Gastón Pauls, Leticia Brédice 2000 In Spanish; widescreen; English, French subtitles; making-of featurette; theatrical trailer.		Fans of the cross, the double-cross and the triple-cross will have a bang-up time at Argentinean filmmaker Fabián Bielinsky's outrageously clever, beautifully constructed caper film. It offers the sort of con-artist conundrum that writer-director David Mamet explored in "The Spanish Prisoner." If not as jocular as "The Sting," it definitely tenders a sting of its own, with humor both dry and wry. After meeting during a late-night fracas at a 24-hour convenience store in Buenos Aires, smug veteran con man Marcos (Ricardo Darin of "Son of the Bride") teams up with eager novice Juan (Gastón Pauls). Within a 24-hour period, Marcos hopes to pull off a lucrative scheme involving a forged set of rare stamps known as the "Nine Queens," and he needs Juan's help. But Marcos' scam to fence the forgeries must go down at a fancy hotel where his sexy, estranged sister Valeria (Leticia Brédice) is concierge. And Valeria has no intention of doing Marcos any favors, unless there's something in it for her.