AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

avik-basu1889 13 Tzameti is a Georgian film which deals with a Georgian emigrant named Sebastien who takes a roofing job to help out his poor family. After his employer's death(before paying him), he steals a letter which his employer received which included a train ticket. He does this with the hope that this ticket will lead him to a scope of making big bucks as he had overheard his employer speaking along those lines about this letter. But unfortunately following the trail of the letter makes him step into a world of utter horror where he ends up having to participate in a deadly game of Russian roulette where gamblers bet on the outcome.There are aspects of the film which are very impressive, but there are also huge chunks of the film which are very underwhelming. Let's first talk about the things that I liked. The actual scenes of volunteers taking part in the Russian roulette are extremely well directed. The director brilliantly creates and maintains the tension in the scenes. The sheer horror and the hopelessness that the protagonist experiences during these games after being forced into them made me sit on the edge of my seat and got my adrenaline rushing. I think '13 Tzameti' shares a thematic resemblance with the David Lynch classic 'Blue Velvet'. In both the films, the naive protagonist unknowingly walks into an alien, dark underworld which leads to horrifying consequences. While Jeffrey in 'Blue Velvet' steps into this world due to his unrestricted curiosity, Sebastien in '13 Tzameti' steps into the darkness due to financial needs and his responsibility towards his family engulfed by poverty. However there are a lot of things in the film that disappointed me. The writing in the script is weak. The characters are all two dimensional. We get no insight into their lives. We get no back-story. The actor playing the protagonist(Sebastien) has no presence and his acting skills are clearly inadequate. We see random characters appear and then become completely absent for the rest of the film. Although the direction in the roulette scenes are good, however in all the other scenes the direction is pretty lacklustre and bland. After watching the film, it is clear to me that Géla Babluani is great at directing set pieces, but below average at handling character moments and character developments. So, I think while writing the script, he primarily prioritised the set pieces in the Roulette scenes and just threw in some random characters and events around it to make up the film. I am giving this a generous 6, but it certainly left me underwhelmed big time, specially since I was expecting it to be remarkable based on the critical reception. It does have impressive moments in it, but it could have been so much better with better writing and direction.

Eternality This is surprisingly, and unexpectedly a bore. This French thriller not only packs no punch, it has almost negligible suspense, except for a couple of scenes which are just mildly suspenseful. Less than ninety minutes, 13 Tzameti may be one of the slowest ninety I've ever spent my life on. The film takes way too long to get viewers into the mood, in fact it becomes alive only after passing the halfway mark.While the 'Russian Roulette' theme is significantly disturbing, the violence is not as shocking as I thought it would be. It's intelligently shot in black-and-white (a rare sight these days), but I wonder how much better the film would have fared from a cleverer, and unpredictable script. The cast shows little chemistry, and most of them are sleeping pills personified. But they are not to be blamed, the badly-written screenplay offers no room for the actors to work their talents. In a nutshell, 13 Tzameti is a thriller that neither thrills, nor provides even an averagely satisfying motion picture experience.GRADE: C- (5.5/10 or 2.5 stars)www.filmnomenon.blogspot.com]All rights reserved.

brandon_lee420 Review: 13 TzametiDirector: Gela Babluani Review: 13 Tzameti is a film that is either a masterpiece or a violent, disgusting tale. To me this film is both: a modern violent masterpiece by an unknown director, Géla Babluani, who came out of nowhere and made his violent debut with this film. A film with a low budget like this once again proves that we do not need Avatar like budget to make you like a film. Surprisingly, this film was a lot better than Avatar for its exciting plot and its valuable dialog that you become attached to in the first few minutes of the film. The entire film was shot in Black And White and you might be thinking, "Who the hell does that?" but the director made his reasons clear as the first gun shot went off. What I mean is that the color for this particular film made the experience a lot more....more...splendid. I cannot visualize this in color. When 13, Géla Babluani's remake of 13 Tzameti comes out in cinemas around the world, then we can compare each one but my hopes are stuck onto this one. The beginning starts out really boring as you see a roof repairer repairing a building. Then things start to get more interesting when he is requested to help a woman carry her friend who is a morphine addict into the house. From then on, it's a ride to hell and mainly, fun. The atmosphere is what I call perfect in this film because it creates something that suits the film and also adds a bit more effect to the deaths. Some people might be thinking that is a Russian roulette based film but no it isn't but instead it is a French Roulette where they all stand in a circle with a gun to each other's head. Since this film is quite short then this review has to be, sadly, short as well. Sebastian, a young man, has decided to follow instructions intended for someone else, without knowing where they will take him. Something else he does not know is that Gerard Dorez, a cop on a knife-edge, is tailing him. When he reaches his destination, Sebastian falls into a degenerate, clandestine world of mental chaos behind closed doors in which men gamble on the lives of others men.A low-budget film like this will draw away most people but don't fall for that and make sure that this is in your hands no matter what you are feeling. Who cares if you are the odd one out in the whole video store because you would get the most pleasure out of viewing this. I would like to say, again, that Gela Babluani is a talented director who actually creates shocking miracles. I cannot wait to compare this film with its remake, 13 with Hollywood actors. The first shot was unexpected and really frightening. The deaths were so real that you wish you could tear your eyes off the screen but couldn't since this film gets you in a hypnotic trance. I highly recommend this masterpiece to people who love the genre (s) like Crime, Thriller, and Drama, or a mixture of all. 13 Tzameti is the year's best foreign film, maybe the decades, for its brilliant story and a great cast all worthy of praise. George Babluani plays the role if innocent to not so innocent Sebastian well. He lacks acting skills but has a lot of expression. The ending is different from what you have in mind but it is sad as well. If you liked this movie I also recommend....mmmmm....oh, I forgot this film is unique........... 8/10

erikgloor To some degree, everyone understands that there are universes that run parallel to the more-or-less civilized reality in which most of us go about our daily affairs and that these parallel universes are often as near to us as the other side of a car door. Parallel realities in which various laws or social norms are ignored and in which everyone's general health and well-being aren't necessarily the top priority.And while the shock value of '13 Tzameti' will depend on any given viewer's understanding of the sharp difference in sensibility that will so often characterize the inhabitants of these alternate worlds, newcomer Géla Babluani's second film is nonetheless a compelling parable about the other side of the car door.It is rather a precipitous plunge into just such a parallel universe by a young French handyman that is chronicled in this picture's evenly-paced 93 minutes runtime. The handyman, Sébastien, is making repairs to a beach-front home in France that is owned by a man of some means who has just returned from a trip. But something is wrong: The man is in a state of near total exhaustion. The police are watching the mailbox and the owner's wife is fit to be tied. The only clue as to the man's considerable distress is a letter that arrives before the police can intercept it and which ends up in Sébastien's hands. In it, cash is promised to the recipient for following mysterious instructions requiring travel by train. When Sébastien's fee is jeopardized by the chaos, he endeavors to prove he is the world's stupidest Frenchman by pretending to be the intended recipient and following the instructions himself.Without giving away the form Sébastien's nightmare actually takes in the film, suffice it to say that it is stark indeed.A warped sense of accountability came to define the world of Enron's top officers when that company imploded.Al Capone's parallel universe of speak-easies can be described as one in which Prohibition didn't matter.In '13 Tzameti,' we encounter a culture of behavior more typical of the Roman Empire – one in which human frailty has become a matter for sport.And like the makers of 'The Blair Witch Project,' and 'The Deer Hunter,' what Babluani knows about the horror of stories like these is not the physical peril itself, but its embrace by the weakened and beaten minds that could once have been allied against it. That's what really gets your skin to crawling: collaboration.The French Resistance shaved the heads of Nazi collaborators after World War II and it is fitting that in this French film, the question of collaboration, ultimately, elevates the theme above one of a mere "ain't this awful?" Will Sébastien be a shaver or a shav-ee? A question made all the more important as we learn in the film's DVD release that the story is rooted in real-life accounts of actual events.Shot entirely in black and white, '13 Tzameti' occasionally feels like the graphic novel Frank Miller might have authored had he grown some sense for nuance: The more intense a scene gets, the higher the contrast. At its best, the effect is one of universality -- at worst, an unpolished amateurism.The director's young brother, George Babluani, plays Sébastien and this conceit could have cost the film its authenticity. Despite an expressive face that conveys an interesting mix of intensity and innocence, the younger Babluani is out-acted in nearly every scene that counts and especially by the more experienced Aurélien Recoing who has over 100 films to his credit. Perhaps it is by virtue of the fact that George is playing an inexperienced outsider in this story that he gets away with the performance he provides.Ultimately, what '13 Tzameti' does best is what so many good independent films do and that is to consider topics and themes that go unexamined in the mainstream market.At the very least, after watching this movie, you will think twice about which car doors in life you decide to open.This movie review by Erik Gloor