Review by Gary Cabana, The Reel Reviewer:
13 TZAMETI
Simple premise gets a noirish, edge-of-your-seat, no frills presentation, but it's so powerfully done that many will have to re-rate "The Deer Hunter" and "Reservoir Dogs" in comparison ... welcome to the ultimate 'guy'-flick!
3-1/2 stars [B&W-Widescreen/(2005)/2006 USA release/Unrated (no nudity)] - (1 hr. 30 min.)
[In French (subtitled) / USA distrib: Palm Pictures]
Directed by Gela Babluani
Screenplay by Sabine Bauchart
Cinematography by Tariel Meliava
Characters/Cast
Sebastien (Player 13) - George Babluani (the director's real-life brother)
Jacky (Player 6, defending champion) - Aurelien Recoing
Jean-Francois Godon - Philippe Passon
Master of Ceremonies - Pascal Bongard
Mr. Schlondorff - Vania Villers
José - Augustin Legrand
Pierre Bléreau - Joe Prestia
Ludo - Christophe Vandevelde
Review:
"It's a dirty business"
Remember the Russian Roulette scene in "The Deerhunter" with John Savage and Robert DeNiro as captured American soldiers? Well multiply those two by 6 and then add one more. This last one (aka #13) is a wild card kid who has no idea what he's gotten himself into.
Now add it up and you have 13 guys (vs. the 2 in the 'Deerhunter') playing Russian Roulette simultaneously in a circle (back-to-front). They can't see the guy who's about to pull the trigger behind them and vice versa. The rules are simple: Load the gun, hold it high, spin the chamber, STOP. Now cock it, aim, and wait ... wait ... wait for the light in the center to come on and then ... 13 bangs or clicks or ... yeah, try predicting THAT
outcome. Now there's an earned moment of true spinetingling suspense.
But wait, think that's it?
You're wrong, BIG time. 'Round 2' coming up next for the survivors of the last round, and this time it's TWO bullets in the chamber. Get the picture? Believe me, this is not a first-date flick or something you take the kids to just because they like those violent
video games.
This is the real deal and the grainy black & white photography only makes it more intense. In fact a bit of 'red' blood be welcome since it would remind you that it's Hollywood at work. Fuhgeddaboudit, there's no relief to be found in this den of destruction.
The last guys standing get a nice cash prize to pay off their bill collectors or do something special for the family, but in this 'sport' the odds of survival are slim at best so they just live in the moment.
Many moviegoers will have no idea what they are stepping into upon entering the theater, because they have not done their research like you have. The critical buzz is good so they just bought their tickets to come 'see the show'. As an added bonus, you can watch their reactions out of the corner of your eyes and offer a knowing grin when their jaws drop to the sticky cinema floor.
It'll also give you a better idea of what it's like to be that one kid who entered the game thinking he was doing something a 'little risky' for a lot of money, only to find out it was all risk and the slimmest of chances of for anyone walking away with the prize.
Welcome to the underworld, the place you don't ever want to visit except in a movie. Lucky you can leave the theater afterwards, but the kid will still be trapped inside that game and it'll take more than a few sleepless to forget what you witnessed back in that theater.
That game. Those faces. And then the light goes ON!!!
"You can't leave now. You gotta play now."
Additional cast...Characters:
Philippe Passon ... Jean-François Godon (Man who hired Sebastien to fix roof)
Olga Legrand ... Mme Godon
Serge Chambon ... The Organizer
François Tissot ... Detective Guillouet
Noureddine Ameur ... Mr. Meyer
Hervé Babadi ... Patrick Henri
Robert Beaupré ... Alain Qtull
Claude Billois ... Martin Ott
Bernard Bouillon ... Bureau Chief
Didier Champion ... Bernard Loublier
Jean-Pierre Cottin ... Mr. A
Christelle Coulée ... Coralie Dubouvié
Jean-Michel Delaloche ... Stéphane Delbesque
Jean-Paul Dortone ... Pascal Robert
Laurent Ficher ... Maxime Sohn
Eric Fouchet ... Allan Helbling
Jacques Gallo ... Quentin Gallienne
Daniel Isoppo ... Mr. François de Neuilly
Philippe Kieffer ... Théodore Vetter
Nadir Lalouhi ... Momo
Jacques Lapolye ... Mr. Hypolitte Fussler
Jean-Paul Lopez ... Charles Edouard
Bruno Mary ... Gernot Schleu
Pascal Oumaklouf ... Okaladar
Jérôme Paquatte ... Emeric Pédé
Olivier Rabourdin ... Benjamin Boudier
Stéphane Roquet ... Nicolas Schillcul
Jacques-Maurice Rousseau ... Steve MacDoom
Jean-Luc Solal ... Mr. Merdique
Jean-Pierre Surmonne ... Philippe Lazare
Marie Thomas ... Betty Applegate
Avtandil Makharadze ... Father
________________________________ADDENDUM
Press info: 13 TZAMETI (pronounced: zah-meti), a riveting new thriller from young Georgian filmmaker Gela Babluani.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and the Best First Film award at the 2005 Venice Film Festival, 13 TZAMETI introduces a talent of rare power whom critics have compared to Polanski and Hitchcock.
The film will open at Film Forum-NYC on Friday, July 28, 2006 followed by a national roll-out.
Twenty-year-old Sebastien (Georges Babluani) leads a hand-to-mouth existence with his immigrant family in rural France. While repairing the roof of a neighbor’s house, Sebastien overhears a conversation that suggests there is an easy solution to his financial woes.
Intercepting a letter meant for someone else, he follows instructions that lead him to a chateau in the French countryside – and face to face with a ring of clandestine gamblers.
Unwillingly, he becomes a participant in a sophisticated high-stakes tournament of Russian roulette.Reminiscent of 50s French noir in its use of stark black-and-white cinematography and for the hard-bitten characters who inhabit this surreal underworld, 13 TZAMETI is a nerve-racking thriller where white-collar barbarism rules and an unfortunate young man is transformed into Contestant #13.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
13 TZAMETI
Simple premise gets a noirish, edge-of-your-seat, no frills presentation, but it's so powerfully done that many will have to re-rate "The Deer Hunter" and "Reservoir Dogs" in comparison ... welcome to the ultimate 'guy'-flick!
3-1/2 stars [B&W-Widescreen/(2005)/2006 USA release/Unrated (no nudity)] - (1 hr. 30 min.)
[In French (subtitled) / USA distrib: Palm Pictures]
Directed by Gela Babluani
Screenplay by Sabine Bauchart
Cinematography by Tariel Meliava
Characters/Cast
Sebastien (Player 13) - George Babluani (the director's real-life brother)
Jacky (Player 6, defending champion) - Aurelien Recoing
Jean-Francois Godon - Philippe Passon
Master of Ceremonies - Pascal Bongard
Mr. Schlondorff - Vania Villers
José - Augustin Legrand
Pierre Bléreau - Joe Prestia
Ludo - Christophe Vandevelde
Review:
"It's a dirty business"
Remember the Russian Roulette scene in "The Deerhunter" with John Savage and Robert DeNiro as captured American soldiers? Well multiply those two by 6 and then add one more. This last one (aka #13) is a wild card kid who has no idea what he's gotten himself into.
Now add it up and you have 13 guys (vs. the 2 in the 'Deerhunter') playing Russian Roulette simultaneously in a circle (back-to-front). They can't see the guy who's about to pull the trigger behind them and vice versa. The rules are simple: Load the gun, hold it high, spin the chamber, STOP. Now cock it, aim, and wait ... wait ... wait for the light in the center to come on and then ... 13 bangs or clicks or ... yeah, try predicting THAT
outcome. Now there's an earned moment of true spinetingling suspense.
But wait, think that's it?
You're wrong, BIG time. 'Round 2' coming up next for the survivors of the last round, and this time it's TWO bullets in the chamber. Get the picture? Believe me, this is not a first-date flick or something you take the kids to just because they like those violent
video games.
This is the real deal and the grainy black & white photography only makes it more intense. In fact a bit of 'red' blood be welcome since it would remind you that it's Hollywood at work. Fuhgeddaboudit, there's no relief to be found in this den of destruction.
The last guys standing get a nice cash prize to pay off their bill collectors or do something special for the family, but in this 'sport' the odds of survival are slim at best so they just live in the moment.
Many moviegoers will have no idea what they are stepping into upon entering the theater, because they have not done their research like you have. The critical buzz is good so they just bought their tickets to come 'see the show'. As an added bonus, you can watch their reactions out of the corner of your eyes and offer a knowing grin when their jaws drop to the sticky cinema floor.
It'll also give you a better idea of what it's like to be that one kid who entered the game thinking he was doing something a 'little risky' for a lot of money, only to find out it was all risk and the slimmest of chances of for anyone walking away with the prize.
Welcome to the underworld, the place you don't ever want to visit except in a movie. Lucky you can leave the theater afterwards, but the kid will still be trapped inside that game and it'll take more than a few sleepless to forget what you witnessed back in that theater.
That game. Those faces. And then the light goes ON!!!
"You can't leave now. You gotta play now."
Additional cast...Characters:
Philippe Passon ... Jean-François Godon (Man who hired Sebastien to fix roof)
Olga Legrand ... Mme Godon
Serge Chambon ... The Organizer
François Tissot ... Detective Guillouet
Noureddine Ameur ... Mr. Meyer
Hervé Babadi ... Patrick Henri
Robert Beaupré ... Alain Qtull
Claude Billois ... Martin Ott
Bernard Bouillon ... Bureau Chief
Didier Champion ... Bernard Loublier
Jean-Pierre Cottin ... Mr. A
Christelle Coulée ... Coralie Dubouvié
Jean-Michel Delaloche ... Stéphane Delbesque
Jean-Paul Dortone ... Pascal Robert
Laurent Ficher ... Maxime Sohn
Eric Fouchet ... Allan Helbling
Jacques Gallo ... Quentin Gallienne
Daniel Isoppo ... Mr. François de Neuilly
Philippe Kieffer ... Théodore Vetter
Nadir Lalouhi ... Momo
Jacques Lapolye ... Mr. Hypolitte Fussler
Jean-Paul Lopez ... Charles Edouard
Bruno Mary ... Gernot Schleu
Pascal Oumaklouf ... Okaladar
Jérôme Paquatte ... Emeric Pédé
Olivier Rabourdin ... Benjamin Boudier
Stéphane Roquet ... Nicolas Schillcul
Jacques-Maurice Rousseau ... Steve MacDoom
Jean-Luc Solal ... Mr. Merdique
Jean-Pierre Surmonne ... Philippe Lazare
Marie Thomas ... Betty Applegate
Avtandil Makharadze ... Father
________________________________ADDENDUM
Press info: 13 TZAMETI (pronounced: zah-meti), a riveting new thriller from young Georgian filmmaker Gela Babluani.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and the Best First Film award at the 2005 Venice Film Festival, 13 TZAMETI introduces a talent of rare power whom critics have compared to Polanski and Hitchcock.
The film will open at Film Forum-NYC on Friday, July 28, 2006 followed by a national roll-out.
Twenty-year-old Sebastien (Georges Babluani) leads a hand-to-mouth existence with his immigrant family in rural France. While repairing the roof of a neighbor’s house, Sebastien overhears a conversation that suggests there is an easy solution to his financial woes.
Intercepting a letter meant for someone else, he follows instructions that lead him to a chateau in the French countryside – and face to face with a ring of clandestine gamblers.
Unwillingly, he becomes a participant in a sophisticated high-stakes tournament of Russian roulette.Reminiscent of 50s French noir in its use of stark black-and-white cinematography and for the hard-bitten characters who inhabit this surreal underworld, 13 TZAMETI is a nerve-racking thriller where white-collar barbarism rules and an unfortunate young man is transformed into Contestant #13.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++