13 Tzameti (Géla Babluani, 2005)

[Tribe]

Has anyone seen this? The trailer makes it look fantastic.

Tribe

[zedz]

It's a slick and stylish film, with strong hooks and an interesting look, but, like a lot of modern films that rely on a twisty plot, it leans far too heavily on hard-to-swallow plot contrivances to be satisfying. Nevertheless, Babluani is probably a director to keep an eye on.

Oddly enough, I saw this in the same festival as Bielinsky's The Aura and the rerelease of Antonioni's The Passenger - all basically variations on the same idea.

[SalParadise]

I saw this movie in the UK one week before it was even released in France!

Question: What does the word Tzameti mean? Is it Georgian?

[marty]

I think Tzameti actually means Thirteen.

[Lemmy Caution]

Yes, Tzameti = 13.

I thought it was kind of a silly one-trick pony type of film. But I don't usually like violent or extreme sorts of films. And some of my friends who do, enjoyed this film. The film does a credible job of building some tension and getting one to identify with the protag. Though it all seemed a bit slight. A nice b&w look to the film.

I'd actually recommend NOT seeing the trailer prior to watching the film, as it pretty much gives away the whole plot. The movie begins as a neo-Hitchcockian thriller, with the lead character just an ordinary guy who blindly stumbles into a shadowy, dangerous world. I thought part of the fun was trying to guess what that world and danger would be. Then again, I was disappointed when I found out what was what, so maybe knowing going in will reduce expectations. You can roll with a feeling of anticipated dread instead.

I guess if one wanted to analyze this sort of genre, you can notice how such Asian films often concern themselves with elaborate urban revenge dramas, usually involving honor, sex and family members (think Old Boy). While this "Russian" film depicts a brutal male world in which the rich kill the poor for sport in a most dangerous game. I guess the American equivalent would be something like A History of Violence, where you can't escape your past wrong-doings (ala Out of The Past). Perhaps someone more familiar with this type of film could elaborate further. Seems that Cache could be included as well, with the violence less overt and a political message to boot. Those philosophical French.

Ok, well I've got to ramble out of here ...

[Kirkinson]

I liked it very much. I saw it with a Georgian friend whose reaction as the lights came up was, "That kicked the fuck out of any horror movie I've ever seen." Babluani does do an excellent job of building and (perhaps more exceptionally) maintaining tension throughout. People seem to come away feeling it was extremely violent, but I'd wager it actually has far less violence than (for example) your average episode of "CSI" and this feeling of extremity just stems from how palpably tense the film is.

Michael Wilmington's review pretty much sums up how I felt about it. And speaking of reviews, while I don't always agree with Jonathan Rosenbaum, I think his review of this film is one of the few times he has wholly and completely missed the mark, especially when he criticizes the film's pessimism and accuses it of having no relation to the real world. In fact, the film's (almost nihilistic) pessimism is completely consistent with the worldview I've seen in Georgian films since the end of the USSR (with the exception of Oscar bait like Nana Djordjadze's A Chef in Love or films made by foreigners like Since Otar Left). And I don't think it's a coincidence that the first Georgian film out of the gate to really reflect this worldview was Sun of the Sleepless in 1992 by Gela's father, Temur Babluani. The only difference between the other recent Georgian films I've seen and this one is that Tzameti just happens to be set up in a film noir universe. My friend seemed to feel it was pretty consistent with the national attitude of late (though she lives far away from the country now).

[soma]

Oddly enough, I saw this in the same festival as Bielinsky's The Aura and the rerelease of Antonioni's The Passenger - all basically variations on the same idea.

I saw it at MIFF in July, along with The Aura also. I happen to think this was the better film, whilst not without its flaws it racks up an unbelievable amount of tension in a short space of time, and held an almost Melville-ian note of piercing, evocative minimalism throughout.

Melville is not the only influence (The Passenger already mentioned), but the similarities there are quite striking. Tzameti pays its respects to both Clouzot and Hitchcock, has touches of Blue Velvet and of course, owes a great deal to the Spanish thriller Intacto. Whilst not exactly original and not without a heavy tag for some, in that a certain degree of suspension of disbelief is required (I wouldn't go as far as to say contrived), I would still say it is one of the year's best thrillers. It has a sparse, understated intelligence to the fashion in which it creates tension and the lyrical sense of pre-determined (and inescapable) destiny perhaps touches on that of Wages Of Fear and even Jarmush's Dead Man.

Extremely clever in its premise, it manipulates the viewer to the point of forced commentary. The introduction is for sure a little clumsy, but once the penny drops the ride is magnificent, and the rest of the film is tightly restrained. It explains no more than it needs to, is not a moment too long and ends, for me, on a perfect existentialist note.

And speaking of reviews, while I don't always agree with Jonathan Rosenbaum, I think his review of this film is one of the few times he has wholly and completely missed the mark, especially when he criticizes the film's pessimism and accuses it of having no relation to the real world. In fact, the film's (almost nihilistic) pessimism is completely consistent with the worldview I've seen in Georgian films since the end of the USSR (with the exception of Oscar bait like Nana Djordjadze's A Chef in Love or films made by foreigners like Since Otar Left). And I don't think it's a coincidence that the first Georgian film out of the gate to really reflect this worldview was Sun of the Sleepless in 1992 by Gela's father, Temur Babluani. The only difference between the other recent Georgian films I've seen and this one is that Tzameti just happens to be set up in a film noir universe. My friend seemed to feel it was pretty consistent with the national attitude of late (though she lives far away from the country now).

I definitely agree. Rosenbaum is often an amazing critic and I do consider myself a fan, but I completely disagree with what he has said here.

Social commentary?! Since when, exactly, did this film or any thriller for that matter need social commentary to make it worthy of our attention? Not that I think it's important but if it's indeed social commentary that's required then isn't it its very cynicism and inescapable sense of destiny that screams injustice at us, either of a a vast gap in the class system or perhaps even of repressed identity? Or how about the far more universal notions of greed, addiction and excess? In that respect this is very much a thinking man's Hostel, where the rich are so bored with the world, have tried everything, tasted everything, gambled on everything; that life no longer stimulates them, and in turn leads them to far darker pleasures - in this instance betting on human life. Could not the cold, clinical cynicism of the gamblers be seen as an almost capitalist indifference to the working class, if not of Georgian society then the world at large?

If not that then what are the motives and morals, exactly, of "high roller" gamblers? Is this not a likely, believable scenario - shocking as it may be? What does it say about a world in which this is within the realm of believability? And what kind of people would bet their lives like a roll of the dice for a quick shot at easy money? Is this in itself the net result of the class system? Of capitalism? There are definitely touches here of what appear to be a 21st century critique, if indeed any kind of social commentary, perhaps a loose metaphor for our times.

Whilst not exactly original in its premise (although it is a good one), and I believe plot-wise it borrows just as much from Intacto as it does from The Passenger, I guess I'm willing to forgive it on that front because it's just so damn classy. Again I can't help but liken this to Melville-style filmic execution (sparse, evocative minimalism / understated / restrained) and lyrical, impending fate (ie: in fact present in most of his films; Le Cercle Rouge, Bob Le Flambeur, Le Samourai, Army Of Shadows). In fact the same stance is taken by other films I really appreciate such as Kubrick's The Killing, Clouzot's Wages Of Fear, Dassin's Rififi and Jarmusch's Dead Man.

Despite perseverance, skill or just plain luck, the protagonists in Le Cercle Rouge, Rififi, Dead Man and 13 Tzameti were always destined to die. It became more a matter of how long they could evade destiny for and how in fact they would die. Through their respective deaths, the final and inherent nobility of their characters are revealed to us and try as they may, each protagonist meets the fate that was intended him... eventually. Reflected best in Kubrick's The Killing, 13 Tzameti also echoes the bitter irony of meeting fate at the crossroads just as the protagonist is about to get away clean. In this instance the irony of being number 13, being the luckiest man in the game and beating the odds only to have the true fate of the number (or simply the true destiny of that initial choice of his) catch up with him just as he thinks he's home free, is nothing short of bittersweet. Or perhaps that wasn't his fate at all, it was the fate of the old man's who was originally intended to go to the game? The old man himself comments early in the film that he doesn't think he'll make it through another match. From his own poor health and a deep, intrinsic fear he feels every day of his life (hence his morphine addiction and hints of madness); he knows that his time has come. Luck is no longer with him. Therefore by deviously taking his place and (like in Blue Velvet) exploring a mystery that is not his to explore, by (like in The Passenger) assuming an identity that is not his own; that holds more danger than what he ever could have imagined before setting out, he has inadvertedly selected for himself a fate that is not his own. Or, was an unlikely tangent fate that he has steered himself toward via a hunger for money, dishonesty and probably most of all, morbid curiosity. Is it any more ironic that curiosity also killed the cat? That the old man overdosed on Morphine before meeting his true fate is of no concern, he was afraid to play another round, deeply afraid... and yet was financially obligated to. The old man was trapped, and thus chose another and less confronting way to meet fate. The original destiny or fate of the old man should have then become a dormant possibility, science-fictioners might call it an alternate reality or tangent dimension. By stepping into that, the boy's fate was sealed. It is in that sense of impending doom and lyrical abstraction that I think 13 Tzameti has far more to it than meets the eye.

As with Wages Of Fear, there is deliberate use of manipulation on behalf of the director that teases us with archetypal conclusions, invested emotional interest and wishful projected outcomes. And perhaps a far more post-modernist, Tarantino-esque manipulation of genre conventions, genre deconstruction, etc. As stated the director manipulates the viewer to the point of commentary. Think about the ending, it's absolutely loaded with subtext. That it does this and succeeds at base-level at being the most restrained and nail-biting thriller I've seen in some time, I commend it. It is certainly not without flaws, most glaring for me a rather vacant and underscripted introductory sequence, but I would say it is far more than an "empty film", and certainly an as promising indie thriller debut as say, Aronofsky's Pi.

[Antoine Doinel]

SPOILERS

I rented this tonight, and thought it was a highly stylized bore. Definite kudos to the director for his nods to Melville and Hitchcock but I found the premise of the film barely sustained it's ninety minute running time. The first half hour leading up to the game is overly elaborate, and game itself - once we get the nature of it - goes from being suspenseful to repetitive. I think the main problem I had was that for all the nods to The Killing, Le Cercle Rouge and other films I just didn't care all that much for the protagonist and the overlapping philosophical themes (for lack of a better term) are somewhat trite. What the film needed more of was character develpment. In Melville's films, we get a deep understanding of both the hunter and the hunted, particularly in the aforementioned Le Cercle Rouge. I also find that Melville has a deep respect for both the police, criminals and those caught in between creating a much richer moral ambiguity that only heightens his films to other levels. Here the police exist on the perimeter, the criminals are uniformly "bad" and the protagonist a guy who just manages to get lucky. Unlike The Killing in which we root for the protagonists in a plot we know is going to fail, it's simply hard to root for a guy who just manages not to get shot a few times, let alone embrace the ironic ending. Additionally, because the characters are poorly developed the showdown between the investigator and the protagonist lacks the power it should have had.

All that said, the direction is strong and I will look out for what he does next. But it looks like I'll have to wait until he's done directing an American remake of his own film.

[Kirkinson]

All that said, the direction is strong and I will look out for what he does next. But it looks like I'll have to wait until he's done directing an American remake of his own film.

Actually, as the article you linked to indicates, he already has a second film in the can called The Legacy, which he co-directed with his father. It's been out in France and was picked up by Revolver for the U.K., and since it won a special jury prize at Sundance I suppose it'll get U.S. distribution eventually. Last time I checked it didn't do well with critics in France. Elsewhere in the world from what I can tell it's gotten a mixed reception similar to Tzameti's. Official French Website (with trailer, possible spoilers).

I'm naturally skeptical of that American remake. I'd rather see him delve into new territory. It seems from his comments like he's trying to do that with the remake anyway, but I thought the simplicity of the premise was one of the original film's strengths, so I'm having trouble seeing how it could be significantly changed without turning it into something so different it might as well not be a remake at all. Of course, if it is really that different, I'll probably be happier. But until more information surfaces I'll maintain a distanced curiosity.