What I find interesting about this movie is that it gives you no easy way out. The ending shows an ambiguity not usually present in the genre, at least if you compare it to the US versions of this genre. If you compare it with Matchstick Man or The Grifters, and the sanitized Hollywood versions, The sting: all of them seem to take a clear moral view of the characters, one way or another. I can't quite remember House of Games, but I do believe in all of them we are in a world apart and individuals make a choice between a "moral" way of living and one in which the "con game" rules. I don't think this is the case for Nueve Reinas, the ending does not give you a clear guideline for judging the characters, you have to make your own interpretation. On the one hand Marcos is not at all likable and becomes the fooler fooled. But Juan, who we are happy to learn, fools him, I'm not sure is any less of a fooler, just a more "natural talent." That ambiguity in the ending I don't think is completely apparent to all. The fact that Juan gives his, in the end we find out, girl-friend the ring he stole with Marcos, from an old lady and a ring that was a family memento ... a minor detail maybe, but a cruel act typical of the "con" artist who takes advantaged of an old lady's solitude (not a pretty picture). And are we sure that he does this for his dad, or is that just a "con" the picture create ... and is the girl friend just out to swindle the brother. In the end Juan, the guy with the honest face, has learned all to well how to "survive", and I wonder if in the end that is not what we are looking at in this movie. The ending does not give you all the answers, and maybe that is what makes this such an interesting movie and one that can be seen more than once
Review of Nine Queens
