HIGHLY UNDER-RATED CLASSIC
Well, one director whom I can recall, who could make dark thrillers even in his sleep was Alfred Hitchcock. 13 (Tzameti), a first, full length feature film made by French educated, Georgian director Gela Babluani has lots of resemblances of several Hitchcockian dark movies (North by Northwest, Vertigo) where the movie starts off gently and midway through throws the viewers off-guard.
In a town along the French Atlantic coast, Twenty-two year old Sebastien, is a struggling wannabe young Georgian artisan (played by Babluani’s brother Georges). One day, he gets a assignment, to make repairs on a house owned by an ageing morphine-drug addicted person named Jean-Francois. Sebastien eavesdrops a conversation Jean-Francois has with another man, talking about an opportunity where he can make a lot of money. He is also awaiting the arrival of an envelope which contains some clandestine instructions. Sebastien’s roofing assignment ends abruptly due to the death of Jean-Francois and with no hope of payment he steals a letter addressed to his former employer, which contains instructions regarding a mysterious and possibly dangerous money-making scheme.
Impersonating Jean-Francois, he follows the instructions and arrives at an isolated mansion outside Paris. To his horror, he finds that he is to be a player in a game of roulette where men bet on other people’s lives. He is assigned the number 13 in this ghastly game. Though, 13 is considered as unlucky, this is not about luck since it strips the protagonist of all humanity and reduces him to just a lottery surrounded by a cruel rule of chance. He is just number 13 with his thoughts limited to where the bullet is placed in the cylinder. What happens to Sebastien? Does he survive the roulette? All these are told in a nerve wrecking climax.
13 (Tzameti) is just extraordinary. It’s a wonderful, taut thriller at a very viewer-friendly 95 minutes which starts off smoothly, gently builds up pace and from nowhere moves into another gear and that too when the viewer least expects it. Debutant George Babluani does an awesome job as Sébastien. The most powerful and intense scenes are those where he does not express a word but leaves the viewer chewing their nails in utter tension. The way he manages to express the character’s terror and hopelessness is just astounding.
The film's black and white cinematography is both stunning and moody. The background score, too, is grim and helps in generating the tension to the audience. Though I first felt that the movie was a little slow, it actually helps in piling the pressure on the audience. The director does a great job in exploring the dark and unpleasant side of human nature. 13 Tzameti is a smartly told, carefully paced thriller with a gripping screenplay and amazing visuals.
