Swindled (Incautos) DVD (15)

Dir: Miguel Bardem, 2004, Spain, 110 mins, Spanish with subtitles
Cast: Ernesto Alterio, Victoria Abril, Federico Luppi, Manuel Alexandre

Lovers of the long con have been well served by cinema over the past thirty years and it’s fair to say that the once-mysterious world of grifters, marks and capers has now been laid open for all the world to see. Here, then, is the fundamental problem with Spanish confidence caper Swindled – we’ve seen it all before. The film follows young grifter Ernesto (Alterio) as he is taken under the wing of an older hustler (Luppi), who embark on setting up a ‘golden goose’ – a scam that will net them enough cash to retire. Add in a classic femme fatale (Abril) and supporting cast of unreliable ne’er do wells and the stage is set for a web of lies and double-crosses that – theoretically – will keep the audience on the edges of their seats.

Except it won’t, because the plot twists are so obvious that each surprising development is nothing more than blatant misdirection from a final swerve one can see coming a mile away. This isn’t helped by the fact that Ernesto is shown from the outset to be an utterly incompetent hustler, messing up a series of simple cons through impatience, arrogance or sheer ignorance. This not only undermines him as a credible front man, but also threatens the audience’s belief that he can pull off such a delicate and complex scam. While the whole cast put in credible performances, there’s a nagging feeling that they (like us) have learnt their moves by watching the films of David Mamet and studying Paul Newman and Robert Redford in The Sting (1973). Ernesto’s mannerisms echo those of Roy Dillon in The Grifters (1990) and as a result, Alterio comes across as little more than a poor man’s Juan Cusack. Similarly, both Lippi and Abril are decent enough as the mentor and vamp respectively, but do nothing to break out of the well-worn template that has been set out for them.

While the film has flashes of stylistic flourish, these voiceovers, freeze-frames and direct-to-camera addresses are nothing more than a cinematic pick-n-mix taken from great caper movies of the past. The truth is that there’s little to distinguish Swindled from any other con movie, save the fact that the dialogue is in Spanish. The soundtrack is the same hip jazz used in all these films and there’s nothing here that remotely surprises the viewer or subverts the genre. But despite this, Swindled still manages to entertain to a reasonable degree. It may not be half as hip or smart as it would like to be, but there’s some pleasure to be taken from watching this small-time hustler work a cynical audience. Like a game of three-card monte, we can see that we’re being cheated, but choose to play along simply because it can be rather enjoyable to do so.

Extras:
Trailers, stills gallery

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You can also see Victoria Abril in:
KIKA

More film reviews by Tom Alexander:
NEW POLICE STORY
I SAW BEN BARKA GET KILLED
TENACIOUS D: THE PICK OF DESTINY

Tom Alexander