Stamp Of Approval

A stand-out hit among the current new wave of globally fê ted Latin American features, Fabián Bielinsky's fine caper thriller fucks with audience perception like a pumped-up David Mamet puzzler. A motley team of conmen and crooked cops progress from petty shop swindles to plan a rare stamp heist, but as the stakes escalate and the cast of characters broadens, nagging questions about who's hoodwinking who throw up dazzling wheels within wheels. Former ad director Bielinsky keeps the energy crackling and the viewer guessing in a year 2000 triumph whose mood of Kafka-esque uncertainty has been hailed as a prophetic metaphor for Argentina's current woes. A tad far-fetched, maybe. But either way, Nine Queens rocks.

Rating: 4 / 10

Retail dvd & video (optimum releasing, widescreen)