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13 Tzameti (2005)

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47 out of 53 people found the following comment useful :-
don't read what it's about - just watch it, 19 February 2006

Author: iancaddy from United Kingdom

I know that having made that comment, it is obviously difficult for me to then expect you to read this. But bear with me here. This really is an excellent film and I went to see it having seen a very good trailer for it. The problem is that for the first half of the film I was wondering how we got to the bit I'd seen in the trailer (it's also in promotional stills and the poster). Although this is natural and happens with many films, it is not such a key element of the plot usually as it is in this film. From a very mundane beginning this film develops into the 'thriller' which it is billed as. But the true strength of this film lies in following the journey of the lead character who doesn't know what is going until it is too late. To get the full effect of this film you really ought to see it 'blind'. Even if you know something about it I'd still definitely recommend it. Filmed in black and white and focused very much on the lead character it tells a chilling story very well indeed.

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49 out of 62 people found the following comment useful :-
The best first piece of work, 24 September 2005

Author: tommibulo from Perugia, Italy

This remarkable first movie by a young France filmmaker really impressed me and without any doubt it had been one of the most beautiful screening in the Festival of Venice.

It's a black and white sadistic journey through the misery of men. The protagonist, an immigrant twenty year old guy, struggles to survive and works fixing a roof, when the owner of the house he's working at dies of overdose he gets to know that he's not going to be paid and decides to replace the man in a mysterious job outside town. He finds himself involved in a whirl of violence that will take away from him any form of innocence.

I strongly recommend it

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30 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
A thrilling absurd tale of extreme human behavior, 3 April 2006

Author: rasecz from United States

There is little one can say about the story without giving away its core absurdity. The first half is a mystery. In the second we are thrown into a violent hell. (For the sensitive: the gore is minimal and mostly off camera.) The film reintroduces us to the fact that the repetitiveness of violence deadens our revulsion to it. Here it applies to the main character in the film and to us as audience. It is disturbing how quickly we get used to each eruption of violence and come to see it as a game. This habituation is what soldiers in war, butchers, and grandma slicing the chicken's neck to get it ready for dinner go through. Death as means to an end. Ultimately an allegory of the predatory nature of power and money.

Filmed in B/W. Blood is dark gray which helps tame our revulsion. The director's brother plays the main role. He does a competent job. Filmed in wide format. Superb editing maintains the tension from beginning to end. As I understand it, "Tzameti" means thirteen. See the film to understand why the film is so named.

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36 out of 47 people found the following comment useful :-
a perfect thriller, 2 February 2006

Author: picrad from United Kingdom

This is a brilliant movie. It's not a bloated Hollywood concoction, derived of any original idea or emotion. It tells its story and ends, does not linger endlessly and unnecessarily. It revolves around a single bright idea, which it carries and improves through its length. The fact that it's shot in B/W only adds to the effect, making it more gritty and realistic. It also enhances the expressions of characters, making them more artistic.

The casting is perfect as well, in my opinion. At times, I got the feeling that I'm watching real people and not actors. Great soundtrack which doesn't convolute every scene as silence plays a big role in the movie, building the tension.

This movie just reminds what cinema is really about; why films move people and make them feel things. It's an absolute treat.

Lastly, this movie has the single best sequence I saw in a movie for a long time. It's raw,gripping and nerve racking. Also, pay attention to sounds and looks, which at times tells a whole sentence. Do not watch any trailers or read any detailed reviews on this film to feel the full effect.

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28 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
Unbelievable tension, 14 April 2006

Author: Kujo1 from Toronto, ON Canada

A very impressive debut film by a young french filmmaker. What starts out initially as a seemingly simple tale soon turns into a twisted thriller. The amount of tension this film builds is incredible. You'll be hooked. The black and white filming fits perfectly. I gives the film a different edge that I don't think would have been the same had it been filmed in color.

On a side note, I thought the lead actor, besides having an uncanny resemblance to James Franco, did a solid job. His emotions came across as very believable, and not forced.

This film is highly recommended. Be sure to avoid spoilers.

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15 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
dark, ironical, surprising, full of tension, sad, 27 June 2006

Author: JackBauerVsSamFisher from Belgium

I'm so grateful for having seen this movie on the silver screen. It's an amazingly dark film, in the style of Man Bites Dog, and it also has some elements of Eli Roth's Hostel. If you like movies with that dark atmosphere, don't miss this one! A young man who is hired to fix up an old house, finds a mysterious letter that has instructions. When he decides to follow them, more letters and instructions follow, and eventually he ends up in a house in the middle of the woods where he and others have to face a difficult task, in order to please the rich. If (the word IF is very important) he survives, he gets a lot of money. I'd love to tell you more about it, but it would ruin the surprise.

At the end, when you're watching the credits, I think you'll feel more satisfied than watching any American movie. This one has an ending, it can't have a sequel. The ending is quite ironical, it's been a while since a movie really surprised me with that. It's amazing what kinds of risks non-American movie makers take, what they put their characters through.

The cinematography was also surprising, it's a black and white movie, very stylish, film-noir like. Artsy, but not at all MTV-like. Once you get into the story, you'll begin to love the black and white, it's been such a good decision, and it adds to the atmosphere.

I had never seen a Georgian movie before so i was very excited and all my wishes came true. It was way better than i expected and when it's out on DVD, I'll rent it again, or buy it, that's for sure.

One last thing, if Géla Babluani's writing and directing a movie again, i hope it will be as awesome, dark and surprising again! He could be the Georgian Tarantino. 10/10

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11 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Your man kills a third and there'll be a bonus for you…13 Tzameti, 23 September 2006

Author: babubhaut from buffalo, ny, usa

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

If you desire to see an edge of your seat thriller, definitely take the opportunity to go downtown to the Market Arcade Theatre and check out the enthralling, French-language 13 Tzameti, while you still have the opportunity. This film is a debut that any veteran director would love to have included in his/her filmography. A minimalist film in terms of dialogue and set, the real magic lies in the performances. Each character has his life on the line at some point during the proceedings, whether it physically, monetarily, or emotionally. The closest film I can compare it to is the final half hour of Eli Roth's Hostel, only with tension amped up to the extreme, and the gratuity of gore and sex turned down to an almost non- entity. By showing reactions to and only short bursts of violence, director Géla Babluani has created a master-class in the school of less is more. Whereas Roth went for the outlandish, gross-out effects, Babluani sticks with reality and it is that much more effective as a result.

While all the acting is top-notch in terms of expressing the weight of the world trouble laid on almost every character's shoulders, our star Sébastien, played by George Babluani, really stands out. He starts out as a young laborer, capable and taking pride in the job he is doing. His family at home really needs the money this job will soon afford, hopefully to take some pressure off his gimp brother who seems to only have time to sleep when he is not hard at work. Sébastien soon realizes that his employer is not well, mentally or financially. He overhears a conversation while working on his employer's roof that, besides fronting the advance for his construction work, the old man really doesn't have the money for anything else, and is not sure he can do the task awaiting him again. This task is given through a striped envelope containing a train ticket and paid hotel room. Circumstances soon play out which leave young Sébastien broke and in possession of said letter, whose conversations around seem to show a bountiful of wealth upon receipt. The desperate times call for him to go in his employer's place, without any knowledge of what he will have to do, in order to bring some money back to his family.

George Babluani gives an emotionally draining performance, transforming from a hopeful boy with work to a broken heap of nerves, fighting for his life knowing that his only hope for survival will be to kill at least one other human being. As the film's trailer showed, the task at hand is joining an underground gambling event of Russian Roulette, with a twist. Your gun is pressed against the back of the head of the man standing next to you. When the light above turns on, everyone shoots; there can be only one victor after the three rounds and final duel. But don't look in the others' eyes; it is much harder to pull the trigger on someone whose soul is bare than the matted down, sweat drenched hair motionlessly dead ahead. These actors are battling the nerves to not only stay alive, but also deal with being a murderer in order to survive. Babluani, the director, shows us such realism that you almost believe these men have real guns in their hands, playing God while their handlers wait in the adjacent room to see if their millions have been betted on the luckiest man. The final duel is painful to watch, seeing these men resolved to tears and a need of forgiveness knowing what they will have to do.

While the contest is the crux of the film, it is not the only trial needing to be overcome. We have police on the hunt for the hideout to put a stop to the games and we have handlers with novices who have never shot a gun—they must put the unknown players in because they will be fined if not, and if for some reason that person brought the police, they'd be considered the rat if they left before a raid. The stakes are high, the outcome always looking bleak. As a viewer, you have no idea where the story will take you next, no one is special and everyone's life hangs by a thread. The gorgeous black and white cinematography helps keep you on edge, viewing through sharp angles and thick grain, adding to the tension and heart- pounding action unraveling itself on screen. I almost can't wait to see the Hollywood remake, which has been recently greenlit for development, just to see how they ruin an amazing feat of cinema.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Would've been better as a short film, 17 February 2007

Author: jcphoenix from Canada

Good but somewhat disappointing with very very little storyline. Basically, from the teaser trailer which just showed a scene from the part in the movie where they play the "game", I could make up this entire film. Besides the main concept, there is nothing new or original in the movie which was disappointing. We don't get to know any of the characters, and the game gets repetitive when they add nothing new to change it up. They also throw in a storyline with the police to try to put some meat on the storyline but it doesn't do much. On the flipside, this movie is quite well-filmed and despite its severe (and I really mean that) lack of tension, it still remained somewhat intriguing all the way through, with a very bleak atmosphere enhanced by the stark black and white look of the film. The first part up to the game worked well and would've worked even better had I known nothing about this movie. Essentially, I think this could've been one of the best 15-20 minute short films I'd ever seen. Instead, it is a diluted/flawed but passable feature film.

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8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Babluani is powerful, 16 August 2006

Author: jim smith (jsmith1480@aol.com) from New York, NY

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Briefly, this is a melodrama about a young handyman who, stiffed for his pay by a "dead"beat client, naively takes his customer's place in a big stakes game that he suspects can make him more than good for the money due him. But the joust turns out to be, essentially, an elaborate game of Russian roulette.

Though the film and the language is French, the auteur, Gela Babluani, is from Georgia (that's the Georgia that used to be part of the USSR). His choice for the final turn of plot reflects, I think, the mores of Tbilisi rather than the sane moral relativism of today's West. But the look, the precision, the atmosphere, the tension Babluani produces are awestriking. The lead character, Sebastien, is played by George Babluani, a relative of the director I would guess. This young actor is handsome,lithe, intense, with a gift of expression that is magical.

Comparing Director Babluani , now in his 20's, with, say, Scorsese at the same age, Scorsese was doing imaginative, promising but still academic pieces. Babluani is sure, electric, the technique never shows. Jim Smith

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
possibly the most tense work of fatalistic/nihilistic European cinema this year, 6 March 2007

Author: Filmjack3 from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Gela Balbuani, writer and director of 13 Tzameti, has probably seen more than few Noirs from the 1950s, but his work here also makes for other comparisons as well. His film has that air of doom and detached, almost cold despair that reminds one of a Jean-Pierre Melville film. There is also the element, from Melville, of characters who 'do' more than talk, as the slightest or most obvious expressions tell everything we as the audience need to know. But the subject matter is a lot closer to that of at least a few cult films as of late that have basically a story gimmick that is taken very seriously. But unlike Fincher's the Game where the stylistic flair is part of the artificial nature of the content or Fukasaku's Battle Royal (a film I thought of a couple of times midway through this film) where the nihilism is so over the top it becomes comical, 13 Tzameti is shot in stark, gritty black and white photography. This is not simply done, I think, for the filmmaker to get in his 'old-school' kicks from those hard-boiled noirs from America and even France.

The story unfolds without much complexity, but with enough ambiguity early on to make an impact midway through. Sebastien (George Balbuani in his first film role under director Gela's directorial debut), finds that his neighbor Jean-Louis (Passon, in a good if all-too-short performance) has killed himself in his own bathtub from an overdose. For a reason that is made clear though not precise (money for his immigrant family, and possibly just curiosity), he decides to follow the lead of a package of instructions left for Jean-Louis, which takes him through various channels of travel across the country even as he's being tailed by the police. Like in Eyes Wide Shut, Sebastien is the bemused, eventually awfully affected outsider, this case in a group of people who watch, bet, or participate in a sort of 'game' where rich old Frenchmen bet thousands on who will die, or kill, in three rounds where thirteen contestants have to load up one gun a piece and fire it at the other's head in a domino-type line. The game becomes the centerpiece of the film, where morphine and alcohol gets slammed down and shot up in-between the rounds, and the game itself becomes as captivating as the participants, and on both sides of the volunteer killers and on-lookers bring on an unnerving sense of doom, and it pervades the film up until the end.

The logic behind the technical style, one where Meliava's absence of hand-held photography and wavering close-ups and high-angle shots in the 'shooting' scenes, creates a world devoid of a sense of humor, and one that completely sustains the tone of the film. On top of this, the musical accompaniment is only on occasion, with the mid-section The acting also corresponds with this style, as the performances are all very realistic, and Balbuani particularly has a lot to carry as the protagonist. His character halfway through goes through a change from being a not-too-special, contemplative young guy to being traumatized with this special roulette-like competition and finally into something of the walking dead in his some of his mannerisms. For a first-time performance under a first-time director, it's a turn that reminds me (speaking of French films from days gone by) of a Jean-Pierre Leaud, with a face and demeanor that can only hide so much before the emotional toll of the character finally comes through. It's an uncompromising film with a violent, desperate core where the fates are against all involved in the game, with little hope in sight. That it won't be for everyone is not a surprise, but it has an appeal that might someday make it into a cult-movie, and it's got a psychological edge that has me already ready to watch it again.

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