Nine Queens

Writer-director Fabián Bielinsky finished the screenplay for the film in 1997,[2] which he wrote in less than sixty days.[15] He based the script on real scams that happened to his family members and books about scams,[16] and aimed for it to have an objective point of view in order to mantain the logic of the film itself.[17] The script was initially titled Farsantes (transl. fakers),[15] but Bielinsky changed it as he considered it revealed too much of the story. He chose Nine Queens for its poker-related connotations.[16] He unsuccessfully tried to sell it for over a year. According to Bielinsky, "producers didn't like it" as the Argentine film industry "isn't very fond of genre films."[2] In 1998, he submitted the script for a contest organised by production company Patagonik Films —one of the companies that rejected the idea— and was awarded first place out of 260 scripts submitted.[15][16] The project was stalled for almost two years after Bielinsky won the contest, as Patagonik had the film Clams and Mussels (2000) as a priority over Nine Queens.[16]

Marcelo Camorino joined the project as director of photography in February 2000.[16] The film would originally star Leonardo Sbaraglia as Juan and Gabriel Goity as Marcos. Sbaraglia had read the script a year and a half before it was produced and was already commited to filming Intacto (2001) by the time Nine Queens was to begin production. He left the project a month before filming began.[16] After Sbaraglia dropped out, the studio decided to cast Ricardo Darín instead of Goity.[18] Gastón Pauls joined the film shortly before the start of production.[16] Auditions were held for every role except for Pauls, Darín, and Leticia Brédice.[16] For the role of Vidal Gandolfo, the studio wanted to cast an Argentine actor who spoke a "perfect Spanish accent", but Bielinsky refused as he considered that would take audiences out of the film. Ignasi Abadal was ultimately cast in the role.[16]

Before filming was scheduled to begin, Bielinsky shot scenes for a week with Pauls, Darín, and a reduced crew as a "warm-up". They then had another week of pre-production before filming.[16] Filming lasted for seven weeks. A steadicam was used for over 30 days, which was expensive for the limited budget available.[16] The film was shot entirely on location,[16] using 35mm film.[19] Most scenes on the streets were filmed using hidden cameras, as the limited budget prevented the extensive amount of extras that were needed, in order not to have bystanders looking at the camera. As the actors were already famous, a small of group of extras was hired to surround them and prevent people to get close to them. To capture "the veracity of what happens on the street", the crew would film quickly for short stretches of time.[16] Bielinsky aimed for an "absolutely simple, transparent" mise-en-scène, contrasting the complexity of the plot.[17]

Marcelo Salvioli, the film's art director, initially expressed concern for the hotel scenes included in the script, as it would be difficult to find a location that would fit the requirements and that would allow them to use it. The hotel should "not have any nobility, it had to be a new American chain, a place where cheating prevailed". The Hilton Hotel in the neighbourhood of Puerto Madero was coincidentally being built. Producer Pablo Bossi was friends of one of the owners of the hotel and managed to get the location. Filming was often hindered by noises and disorder, as the hotel was under construction, as well as guests and unavailable rooms and spaces.[16] Filming at a bank also brought difficulties, as no banks would let the production film inside. The scene was eventually shot at a former bank on Avenida Corrientes that had gone bankrupt. Its use required a judge's authorization. Three lanes had to be closed for the scene, the gathering crowd was included in the film.[19]

The final scene at the warehouse was filmed twice. The scene was first filmed close to the end of filming. Bielinsky was unsatisfied with how the scene was shot, so around a week after the end of filming, while the editing process had already begun, the scene was reshot. The only shots from the first version were those of Vidal Gandolfo, as Abadal had already returned to Spain.[19]

Nine Queens was shot on film, transferred to digital and edited on Avid Media Composer. According to editor Sergio Zóttola, who had already edited over 50 films, it was "the first script I worked with that could not be touched. The moment you removed something a piece of information was solt and everything fell apart. It was so tight that nothing could be changed. It was brilliant."[19]

The film had its avant premiere at the Cine América.[19] It opened wide in Argentina on 31 August 2000.[7] The film was screened at various film festivals, including the Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina;[20] the Lima Film Festival in Peru;[21] the Bogotá Film Festival in Colombia;[22] the AFI Fest, the Telluride Film Festival, and the Portland International Film Festival in the United States;[23][24][25] the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada;[26] the Lleida Latin-American Film Festival in Spain,[27] the Fantasporto in Portugal;[28] the Biarritz International Festival of Latin American Cinema and the Cognac Festival du Film Policier in France;[29][30] the Fantasy Filmfest in Germany;[31] and the Oslo Films from the South Festival in Norway.[32]

The film was released in Brazil on 7 June 2001 and in Chile on 14 June.[33][34] It had a limited release in the United States on 19 April 2002.[35][36] It was released in Spain on 24 August 2001 and in France on 4 September 2002.[37][38]

Nine Queens was released on VHS format on 9 February 2001 and on DVD on 1 October 2002.[39][40]

In Argentina, Nine Queens became the "movie hit of the year",[41] and the highest-grossing film in over ten years.[42] In its third week in theaters, it surpassed the 300,000 spectators.[43] It ended its theatrical run with a box office gross of 7 million pesos and over 1.5 million spectators,[3][44] becoming the biggest local film of 2000,[45] and the third film overall, only surpassed by American films Dinosaur and Mission: Impossible 2.[45] Internationally, the film earned earned over US$2 million in Spain, US$1.25 million in the U.S., and over 1.5 million euros in France, as well as almost US$1 million in England and 18 million Chilean pesos in Chile.[3][34]

Nine Queens garnered mostly positive reviews from film critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 92% approval rating based on 95 reviews, with an average rating of 7.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "Deliciously twist-filled, Nine Queens is a clever and satisfying crime caper."[46] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 80/100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[47]

Roger Ebert, in his review of Nine Queens for the Chicago Sun-Times, gave the film a score of three out of four stars, commending its screenplay and calling the film "an elegant and sly deadpan comedy."[8] Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune awarded the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, and called it "One of the most clever, most enjoyable thrillers in years."[48] Orlando Sentinel film critic Roger Moore gave the film four stars out of five, writing, "the laughs are dark, the puzzle steadily more engrossing and the surprises, just like Heist, are doozies, up to the finale."[49] Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle also gave the film a positive review, writing: "Fast-paced and unerringly surprising, Nine Queens is nicely performed by a large cast [...] David Mamet plowed this con-the-con turf in Heist, House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner, but Bielinsky, in his directing debut, makes it seem sassy and reinvented."[50]

Geoff Pevere of The Toronto Star wrote in his review of the film: "If Nine Queens draws you on a journey that eventually leads up a garden path toward your own suckerhood, it's all the more pleasurable for having done so with such slick expertise."[46] BBC film critic Tom Dawson called the film "a welcome addition to the genre" and a "taut thriller a powerful allegorical resonance."[51]