“Nine Queens” vs “Matchstick Men”: Determining the Degree of Globalization

In trying to gain a better grasp on recent world cinema, it is sometimes useful to compare films of similar nature. The Argentine film “Nine Queens” directed by Fabian Bielinsky, shows an astonishing similarity with the American film “Matchstick Men.” Through comparison of these to films we see many similarities and differences. In my argument I will show how the film “Nine Queens” portrays globalized cinema whereas the film “Matchstick Men” does not despite American films ubiquity. In this discussion we will first look at a brief synopsis of each film, what exactly defines a film’s globalization, as well as comparisons between the films, and applying them to the argument.

It is imperative to have an understanding of the plot of each movie in order to effectively compare the films. The film “Matchstick Men” follows a team of two con-artists on their way to pulling off a huge scam. The leader and eldest of the two, Roy, finds out that he has a 14 year old daughter of his ex-wife, whom he begins to get to know when she runs away from home. They become particularly close when Roy agrees to teach her a scam, and she never lets her interest of her “Dad’s” occupation go until he includes her in the big scam with partner Frank. When the scam goes awry at the last minute, the three frantically get away to a place where the team recaps and analyzes the situation. Just when they believe they have gotten off scot free, they find out that Angela (Roy’s daughter) has a criminal record, jeopardizing the whole team. The man at the wrong end of the con finds Angela, Frank and Roy, but Angela ends up shooting him after retrieving a payment for the man. Frank and Angela get away but Roy is hit in the head and goes to the hospital with a concussion. After leaving the hospital, the audience finds that in fact Roy was the one being scammed all along. The surprise ending reveals that his “daughter” Angela was the one who was actually partnered with Frank in the con against Roy.

As for “Nine Queens” the film starts with small time conman Juan shortchanging a gas station attendant. When he gets caught trying to do it for a second time, a man who he thinks is a police officer escorts him out and away, later to find out that he too is a conman (Marcos) and takes Juan under his wing to teach him some better “tricks.” They walk through the streets of Buenos Aires pulling fairly small (but greater than shortchanging) cons. Later Marcos introduces Juan to this huge scam of a lifetime involving selling counterfeit stamps (the Nine Queens) to a very rich stamp collector. After they have set up a purchase of the stamps, they get stolen right outside the hotel where the deal is made. Now they must attain the real ones from an woman who also wants in on a cut from the purchase. Once collecting these they think they can go on to sell the stamps only to find that the buyer wants Marcos’s sister, a hotel clerk, to sleep with him and make the deal. Using his sister the deal is made and Marcos turns on Juan. In the end it is also protégé over master when we find out Juan has set up the whole scheme and Marcos is conned out of his own money.


These two films are very similar and dissimilar on a number of levels. To state the obvious, each film is about a team of conmen, one leader and one protégé, and following them through a number of different scams, only in the end to find out that the protégé has fooled the teacher. Each team differs, however. Roy and Frank have been a team for what seems to have been a while. They work well together and know each other very well. When Frank comes over to Roy’s house to check up on him he knows exactly what to do when he finds Roy hyperventilating on the floor; they act almost as if they are a married couple. On the other hand, Juan and Marcos meet in the beginning of the movie and have to learn to work together as they go, and there is also a bit of uncertainty of whether to trust the other or not. Also, in each movie the team happens upon a very large scam. In particular each leader of each partnership brings in a family member in a bind to help with the scam, who in the end, you find out is actually working with their partner. Another similarity is that in each film the main conman teaches someone under him how to con, but they actually end up teaching them in the end. In “Matchstick Men” a majority of the plot is devoted to Roy spending time with and getting to know his alleged daughter, and in “Nine Queens” that same character relationship is not developed. Lastly, we find that in each movie of partner starts second guessing their ways, such as Roy in “Matchstick Men” and Juan in “Nine Queens,” the only difference being that Juan is the protégé in his partnership, whereas Roy is the leader in his. All in all, one can see that these films are very similar, with a few defining differences.

Defining globalization in cinema is a problem because there is no set definition. The best way to get an idea is to contrast global cinema with that of national cinema. Global cinema tends to involve a movie that easily can be received by people from all over the world. This includes but is not limited to using story lines that all people can relate to, settings that do not define a certain place but could be many places, if not anywhere in the world. “Nine Queens” does a good job of this because although it is filmed in Buenos Aires it feels like it could be set in an urban environment almost anywhere. Bielinsky accomplishes this by using plain cityscape scenes, scenes at places like a convenience store, as well as a generic looking hotel. “Matchstick Men” does not do this as well as “Nine Queens” because you clearly see that it is L.A. because the skyline is shown in many scenes. “Matchstick Men” uses “production design combining with a decision to generally avoid familiar L.A. landmarks in order to achieve a feel of Anywheresville, U.S.A.” [1] Each movie shows globalization through themes and plot situations. In “Matchstick Men,” people can relate to the way Roy is reconnecting with a long lost child. In both movies people around the world can relate to the types of petty crimes that are committed because conmen can be found everywhere. “Nine Queens” is a more globalized film because of the generic setting and scenes, and because the relationship between Juan and Marcos is a relationship that people can connect with. These are just a few of the ways these movies portray global cinema, and why “Nine Queens” is a more globalized movie than “Matchstick Men.”

Through this discussion you can understand as well as compare and contrast the movies of “Nine Queens” and “Matchstick Men.” Through the definition and analysis of the globalization of these two films, we can conclude that whereas they both may have global elements, “Nine Queens” is the only one that can truly be considered a global film.

[1]http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117921674.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

[2] http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie000027809apr19,0,5131306.story (LA Times)

Female Roles in America and Korea

            The smell of fresh baked cookies filling the entirety of a spotlessly tidy house while toddlers play on the floor  is the stereotypical realm of a woman. Women in many countries and cultures are expected to uphold certain societal roles and norms, such as caretakers and homemakers. These roles reflect how society views women as inferior due to the lack of respect and power they obtain in society. The social roles that females hold in their societies will be discussed, along with how these roles are dismissed, and how these females take on more prominent positions that tend to go against society’s expectations in specific films. The characters that women play go against the grain in Hollywood’s film “The First Wives Club” as well as the Korean film “Joint Security Area”.    

            In the United States, there are strong stereotypical gender roles for women. Since early in history, the male gender has dominated society. Women were not respected, trusted, or considered worthy enough for most roles that men play. Women weren’t allowed to hold jobs, receive educations, or hold any types of positions. They could not vote, and had no say in the household. They were expected to give birth to children, raise the children, and take care of the household by cooking and cleaning. However, the United States has moved against those restrictions and accepted women for more than just child bearers and homemakers. Gender equality has gradually increased in this society. According to Steven Holmes, author of  "Sitting Pretty; Is This What Women Want?",  “Since 1970, women have grown to about half the country's labor force, and are less inclined to stop working when they have children. More female high school graduates, 63 percent, enter college, compared to 61 percent of male graduates. The number of women-owned businesses has increased by 43 percent from 1987 to 1992 […] women are increasingly making political and economic decisions independently of men, rather than merely bending to the directives of husbands and fathers.” The United States has made impressive advancement towards gender equality. However society is still not perfect; a majority of women are still stuck in these stereotyped roles. Holmes explains that “men still dominate the top slots in the executive suites and in government. And working women still do 87 percent of the shopping, 81 percent of the cooking, 78 percent of the cleaning and 63 percent of the bill-paying “. Because of this, the stereotype of a woman’s role as a homemaker is still widely expected. Gender equality has improved substantially, but women are still faced with stereotypes and expectations in the roles they play in society.

            In Korea, women’s roles are not as equal as those of the women in the United States. Just like in America, Korean women have been considered inferior by society since early in history and have been neglected many rights and opportunities. Korea has had some advancement in gender inequality, but not nearly as much as necessary. Korean women are still very limited in the positions they can hold, the rights they are allowed, and the respect they receive in society. The households are also still very unequal because men “run” the house. Gloria Steinem, author of "Steinem Emphasizes Gender Equality at Home",  stated that, ''It is not possible for women to be treated equally outside of their homes until men treat them equally inside them”. The common careers women are allowed to have are very unequal unequal, often having roles similar to their stereotype of being caretakers and homemakers, such as teaching.  An article from “The Korea Herald” reads that “Widely contrasting figures of male-female ratios in different job categories tell us something about serious distortions in Korea's social development today. […] These imbalances at different establishments, as far as we can see, are the result of still significant prejudices against women.” Women are not only limited in the roles they may play, but as well as freedoms over their reproduction. Steinem also claims that “The reason why women are in a secondary position […] is because the government or those in power have tried for thousands of years to oppress [women’s] reproductive freedom”. Women still suffer from gender inequality, but steps are being taken to improve this problem.

            In the American Hollywood film “The First Wives Club” (1996), directed by Hugh Wilson, three women break out of the molds society has set for them and accomplish goals that most women would never dream of following. The film depicts three middle-aged women who have found that their husbands have been unfaithful. They band together and create the First Wives Club to get even, and in the process discover “feminist solidarity”, as explained by Adam Mars-Jones in the article “Sisterhood, Hollywood style; The First Wives Club Hugh Wilson”. The women start out with very stereotypically female roles. These women have average jobs, they take care of their children, and they live very stereotypical lives. Mars-Jones described that “They are entirely taken up with husbands and family.” When they decide to take revenge against their ex-husbands, they cross boundaries of women’s roles in society.  The author of "Movies on TV", Keith Connolly explains how they go about doing this by stating that “Their tactics include repossessing jointly owned property, buying out a business, and revealing shady pasts and current indiscretions until the husbands plead for mercy.” After achieving all of the goals, they celebrated and sang and danced to the song “You Don’t Own Me".By achieving all of these goals, the women overcame society’s norms. They held the amount of power that only men normally holdThe women reversed the traditional roles of “damsels in distress” by conquering their crises and becoming the heroines. while turning the men into the weak ones. Adam Mars-Jones refers to the three women as “heroines” several times when explaining the film in his review.  They gain respect and trust and prove themselves worthy in a man’s world, which counters the stereotypical woman’s role.

In the Korean film “Joint Security Area” (” (2000, directed by Chan-wook), a young woman named Major Sophie E. Jang is assigned as the lead investigator from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission to investigate a crime scene. She is half Korean and half Swiss. Throughout the movie she had a hard time gaining respect and trust. Since women do not normally play such powerful and authoritative roles, it was hard for her counterparts. However, she is very qualified for her job and proves it with her investigations throughout the film as she uncovers the secrets beind the relationships between the suspects.  Parvathi Nayar, the author of the article "Intelligent actioner",  suggests that she is qualified by showing that she “goes about her job with logic and hard facts -- the number of bullets, the manner in which the suspect loads bullets into a chamber, the personal relationships. She's good at her job.”  By solving the murder efficiently, she proved herself capable of handling the pressures and responsibility that are involved in stereotypical male roles. By doing so, she played a role that counters Korean’s stereotypical female roles in society.

 Throughout both films, the women shine as they break down the barriers society has placed in front of them. “The First Wives Club” shows how women can evolve from the stereotypical female role into that of a traditionally male role, and gain the respect and trust in such a position of power. In Joint Security Area”, Jang proved herself capable of surviving in a man’s world when given the task that usually is given to men.  The heroines of both films breach society’s norms and expectations and succeed in the male-ruled world of today.

Works Cited

Connolly, Keith. "Movies on TV." The Age 16 May 2002 18. 5 Mar 2009

Holmes, Steven A. "Sitting Pretty; Is This What Women Want?." The New York

            Times 15 Dec 1996 1. 5 Mar 2009  gatech.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?

docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5953766867&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5953766870&cisb=22_T5953766869&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=6742&docNo=5>.

"Male-female ratios ." The Korea Herald 10 Apr 2007 5 Mar 2009

http://www.lexisnexis.com.www.library.gatech.edu:2048/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5954434924&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5954434927&cisb=22_T5954434926&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=158208&docNo=24

Mars-Jones, Adam. "Sisterhood, Hollywood style; The First Wives Club Hugh

Wilson." The Independent (London) 14 Nov 1996 6. 5 Mar 2009 .

Nayar, Parvathi. "Intelligent actioner." The Business Times Singapore 05 Oct 2001 EL5. 5 Mar 2009 us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?docLinkInd=true&

risb=21_T5953540261&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startD

ocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5953540264&cisb=22_T5953540263&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=11432&docNo=4>.

"Steinem Emphasizes Gender Equality at Home." Korea Times 03 Oct 2002 5 Mar 2009

results/docview/docview.dodocLinkInd=true&risb=21_T5954424831&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T5954424834&cisb=22_T5954424833&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=174045&docNo=7>.

"Once Were Warriors" Review

"Once Were Warriors" is a movie about a poor family in New Zealand and the struggles they encounter.  The head of the household is Jake, a violent drunk who spends most of his time drinking with his buddies and neglecting his family.  After a long binge at the bar one night, the party comes back to the families house where he ends up beating his wife to a pulp with the kids crying and listening upstairs.  Jake's wife, Beth, with a swollen face misses her son's court appearance to protect her husband.  As a result, the government takes her son away from the family.  Later on when Beth is asleep, one of Jake's friends rapes Grace, Beth's oldest daughter.  As a result, Grace hangs herself in the backyard.  Everyone in the family attends Grace's funeral except Jake who is at a bar.  When Beth is taping Grace's journal back together, she decides to read a story, but much to their surprise she finds that her deceased daughter had been raped.  The family goes to the bar to confront Jake and his friends about the matter, which ends up in the rapist getting killed, and furthermore the family leaving Jake for good.

The movie "Once Were Warriors" is a common story with many more national elements that are not so common.  Throughout the film the use of music and song was very prevalent to show emotion and feeling, or as an activity to connect with people in a social setting.  This is not as common in American film or even globalized cinema unless it is a specialized production such as a musical.  Also, I feel the Maori aspects of the film speak much more to New Zealanders, such as the older son joining the the Maori gang and getting tattoos all over his body, or the younger son in the camp when practicing the Maori arts.  These things are not common knowledge around the world but I feel give the film more depth for someone who belongs to the nation. 

No Man's Land Review

No Man’s Land is a film about the war between Bosnia and Herzegovina taking place in 1993. The two main characters are soldiers, Nino, a Serb, and Ciki, a Bosnian. They both are on opposite sides of the war, which causes the initial conflict between the two. After spending some time against each other, with the advantage switching continuously, they begin to talk and enjoy each other’s company. Another character with them is Cera, a Bosnian soldier who is on top of a land mine, and cannot move otherwise the mine will explode.

It is interesting to see the change between both Nino and Ciki. Conflict occurs between them throughout the film. Whoever has the gun seems to have most of the power, but the control of the gun switches in the film. The film shows the conflict between the two sides and it also shows that even if two people are against each other, it does not necessarily mean that they cannot find anything in common and enjoy each other’s company. Although the movie is primarily in French, parts of it are also in English, allowing a better understanding for a more global audience. One of the characters has a shirt from The Rolling Stones, showing that even their country is somewhat globalized.

Although the film is primarily a war film, it has a comedic part to it which adds greatly to the film. It allows for comic relief and makes the film more believable and enjoyable. Also, the comedy is able to be transferred through the subtitles, making the film appealing to global audiences. Overall, the film does a great job of portraying an important struggle between two places. While the film may not be as serious or horrific as most war films, it still highlights the struggle between both sides. It also provides an interesting plot and a bit of comic relief to appeal to many audiences, both national and global.