13 Tzameti (2005)

Filmed in widescreen black-and-white, this dark and harrowing film conveys the look of film noir combined with the bleak existentialist sentiments found in so many Eastern European works. "13 Tzameti" is a stylish thriller that is difficult to describe without giving too much away in a review. A deceptive first half ticks slowly by as the pieces fall into place. Sébastien (Georges Babluani) leads an impoverished life constantly struggling to support his immigrant family. While repairing the roof of a neighbor's house, he overhears a conversation about a forthcoming package which promises to make the household rich. Sensing the opportunity of a lifetime, Sébastien intercepts the package which contains a series of veiled instructions. Following the cryptic clues, he assumes a false identity and manages to slip through the grasp of the encroaching police as he ventures deeper towards the unknown. The closer he gets to his destination, the less he understands. Ultimately, he comes face to face with a perverse ring of gamblers placing bets on a depraved game of chance where the spoils are unimaginable millions, and the losses are counted in lives. Directed by Gela Babluani, "13 Tzameti" is a winner-take-all thriller where a naive young man is transformed into Player 13 in game with only one way out. Babluani turns this cryptic game of cat and mouse into a running nightmare of cold-blooded tension. Georgian-born director Babluani works like a prize fighter, distracting attention with one hand before slamming home with the other, and the clinical black and white photography only adds to the nightmare. Once the game is revealed, however, drama is sacrificed for pure tension. But although the outcome is never in any doubt, the twist in this nasty little tale is anything but a cheap shot. If you're in the mood for chilling suspense, place your bet on "13 Tzameti."

Sebastien(George Babluani) is working as a roofer at the house of a drug addict who has hired him for repairs. The homeowner soon dies of an overdose and Sebastien has overheard him discussing a mysterious money making opportunity. He finds a train ticket and hotel reservation and uses them to pursue his dream of easy riches. Of course it all goes from bad to worse when Sebastien drifts into an underground, illegal and dangerous gambling operation.The dark and ominous tone is beautifully photographed in black and white, a very wise choice for this highly stylized French drama. It starts slowly but the tension builds gradually and your patience will be rewarded by staying with this gritty and sad observation of human nature. The violence is low key but riveting and unforgettable.

Gela Babluani, who at just 26 years old already knows more about suspense than many filmmakers absorb in whole careers, creates a fear so profound, a nightmare so believable that its talons rip into your perception. 13 Tzameti is elegantly minimal, and remarkably hard-hitting, and its monochromatic look at a cast of captivating, case-hardened mugs make it unbearable not to watch, even when proceedings grow nigh on unbearable.Georges Babluani, indeed the director's brother, plays young Georgian immigrant worker Sébastien, who is living in France and working construction jobs to sustain his destitute family. Working on the home of a man named Godon, he learns that he's a frail morphine addict, and is under police surveillance. Godon's overdose turns all of Sebastien's toiling into a waste, so when he overhears the widow furtively discussing an enigmatic "job" meant for her husband, desperate Sébastien filches the instructions for obtaining the mysterious position. The instructions are a crafty manner of evading the police. Sebastien is about to wish he didn't follow those instructions.Establishing himself with a muted eye and a smart ear, Gela has fashioned a film in three acts and while his exposition is intriguing and location striking, it's the innermost act that is laden with taut pressure, an astounding set piece that will hold spellbound any moviegoer willing to give it a chance. The composure in the work of both Babluani brothers is uncannily subdued and ripe, already free of the urge to show off, and works no more than to congeal the terror. Dialogue is short and curt, personalities deferential to plot, character names of such irrelevance that most do not in fact have evident ones while others are distinguished by purpose or by numbers on clammy T-shirts, or by a broken nose, a cane-aided hobble, an unpleasant gastrointestinal issue or a bespectacled slightness. And one would be negligent not to note the exceptionally good suspense thriller score by The Troublemakers, piano, flute and cymbals flitting about a Middle Eastern theme.The film's minimalism and force are ministered to by the bracing black-and-white cinematography of Tariel Meliava, which gives the work a noir look suggestive of the 1940s but with a ferment that is utterly new millennium. Indeed, this beautiful testosterone nightmare is a film thick with distinctive male faces, skillfully composed in black and white close-ups, like Diane Arbus subjects. We do get momentary sensations of character from some of these supporting players, like Aurélien Recoing's brutal Jacky and Vania Vilers' untamed Mr. Schlondorff. Also vibrant are men who back them, like Sébastien's sponsor Alain, all cultured cravat and tweed jacket, and a frenzied, panting gambler who would've been a Peter Lorre character in noir's halcyon days. Less a character than a device, Pascal Bongard is indelible as a delirious master of ceremonies, and helps power the anxiety with his roared announcements.Unlike so many low-budget debuts, 13 Tzameti is filled with genuine behavior on screen. The performances are all active and dynamic rather than static, sensory and specific instead of general. It's made on a shoestring by a bare-knuckle beginner, and it's a smart, austere film noir where men either have little hope or so much money it has warped their souls, though that is no reading of the film. It's purely experiential, which is why it's so effective. It has no superficial moralizing, and that detachment, with the underpinning of restrained formality in enterprising technique, makes for a gripping film to say the least.

While this is a simple story of behind-the scenes crime and gambling, it required above average acting for it to work. The actors do not disappoint. While the lead actor is excellent, just about everyone including the "brothers", the master of "ceremonies", bring out multiple facets of the characters in an unbelievably watchable way.The tension and relief are quite visible on most faces on consequent occasions - but the tension and relief are different for the different characters. This was the challenge for the actors and they have excelled.In order to truly appreciate the movie, one must be 1. mature. 2. able to imagine oneself as the different characters.