May 10, 2002 By Joe Baltake Sacramento Bee 4 min read

If Sam Raimi’s terrific “Spider-Man” is the Cherry Coke among the cool new summer movies, then Fabian Bielinsky’s Argentine-made “Nine Queens” (“Nueve Reinas”) is a gin and tonic with crushed ice and a twist of lime – a tangy treat for adult moviegoers. Both films boast a cinematic fizziness, but Bielinsky’s comes with a decided kick. It’s been spiked.

This crisply made, irresistible caper flick is a blatant tribute to both Alfred Hitchcock and David Mamet, with a special bow to the latter. With its slitherly, ever-shifting narrative, “Nine Queens” is more than a little reminiscent of that great Mamet mind-tease “House of Games” (1987). Deception and wildly duplicitous behavior are a vital part of the confidence game here, with double- and triple-crosses popping up at seemingly every turn. It’s a breezy concoction and, considering that “Nine Queens” is Bielinksy’s first film as a director, it’s also gaspingly assured. Bielinsky is a master seducer.

Set in a summery, sunny Buenos Aires, both on its earthy streets and in its luxury hotels, “Nine Queens” starts off with a simple, no-frills premise in which two con men, strangers to each other, come together for one mutually benefiting caper.

Their fateful meeting is a matter of being in the right place at the right time or, depending on how you read it, the wrong place at the wrong time. It happens when Marcos (Ricardo Darin, the title star of “Son of the Bride”), an elegantly seedy looking man with a goatee, is in a convenience store and spots a younger man named Juan (Gaston Pauls) pulling a scam.

Juan, who has the kind of sleepy, half-closed eyes that make him seem more innocent and less formidable than he really is, has successfully pulled off a bill-changing scheme on a cashier about to go off duty for the day.

When her replacement comes on board, Juan tries the scam again, but with less success. Marcos, acting appalled, flashes what looks like a police badge and promptly “arrests” Juan, going through the motions of taking him to the police station.

Once outside, however, Marcos makes Juan a proposition – an offer the younger man can’t resist. Marcos wants Juan to be his partner, if only for one day. He likes the way Juan thinks and believes he can teach him a few new tricks.

Both men are simpatico because they each play on other people’s weakness. Marcos has been pulling cons for so long that having a protege is invigorating for him. Plus, Juan has special skills – like being quick on his feet and having a quicker mind – that impress Marcos.

Juan, although young, is proficient not only at cons but also at improvisation. He’s an improv artist. So, maybe Marcos can learn something in return while Juan “auditions” as his potential partner.

Their caper involves a forged sheet of nine rare stamps, illustrated with royalty, that date back to the Weimar Republic era. Marcos wants to fence them and he has the perfect pigeon – a Spanish businessman named Gandolfo (Ignasi Abadal) who is a stamp collector but, more to the point, is being extradited to Venezuela the next day for dubious financial dealings. He, therefore, won’t have a chance to closely scrutinize the authenticiy of the stamps before being deported. It could mean half a million for Marcos and Juan.

It sounds easy enough, but matters are immediately complicated by the fact Gandolfo is holed up at the Buenos Aires Hilton, where Marcos’ estranged sister, Valeria (Leticia Bredice), works as a concierge. It seems that Marcos cheated both Valeria and their younger brother out of an inheritance, and Valeria now has zero tolerance for him.

“Nine Queens” takes place over a 24-hour period during which Marcos and Juan show off their respective skills and strengths to one other, expose each other’s weaknesses and flaws, test one another and deal with the very angry Valeria (to whom Juan is attracted), as well as a veritable revolving-door’s worth of characters.

After a while, we don’t know who to trust or to discern who’s doing the swindling and who’s being swindled.

Hitchcock would love this movie, and Mamet, if so moved, would be an ideal choice to direct an American remake. But, frankly, “Nine Queens” is just fine in its current form.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)