I've known about this movie for some time now and have been looking forward to seeing it but all the same, nothing could have prepared me for "13 Tzameti". To be most forward about it, movies like this don't come out very often.
It might be better to have an idea of what the movie is about though before I begin. Sébastien is fixing a roof for an eccentric old man who receives a letter that by some connection leads to some great wealth. Sébastien and his family are in need of some great wealth, but before it he is in over his head in a game of chance that risks his own life and that of twelve others.
At its heart, this movie is a real thriller. Even when you have some idea of where it is going you are on the edge of your seat the whole way there. Really the whole thing is very simple and not far from other movies but "13 Tzameti" brings a different feeling to the screen. The feeling probably comes from the black and white, filmed on a low budget, with a small cast and a small crew, with real film, with real grain and all that, but the feeling is real and it gives the audience a feeling of grit that not all thrillers have. This may be a small, not particularly sensational, feeling with too much build-up, but it is what really strikes you with this movie on the most basic level. I really wanted to put that out there, but there is more that this gives the audience than just that.
I've already said that this not the highest budget movie and such, but all that also gives the movie a sense of personal-ness that does not come across in movies with the same clichés that this movie pulls. When it comes down to it the premise is not amazingly fresh and when he follows a phone-call to a locker in a train station, I was reminded of "The Bourne Identity". So what makes this movie personal is hard to say.
To answer I would say the whole movie gives a spin on the classic. When I watch the various Bourne movies, even when I don't know what really to expect you see it when it comes. And often that is in a huge car chase. "13 Tzameti" does not have that. This brings me back to the grit and personal-ness. What we get in Bourne movies is way to much. But you have the idea with this movie that it is right there and that things would look like that, and there would not be a car chase. It really makes this movie better and new and unexpected, even though it is contained by the limits of an indie-film.
All this makes "13 Tzameti" a true classic. Things you can get from other movies but with technique that you do not get from all movies. With everything you want from a thriller, made better by a look only this line of media can give. Unexpected, and really good, this movie gives a different punch from an age old genre.
Directed by Gela Babluani
Starring Georges Babluani, Audrien Reoing, Pascal Bongard, Fred Ulysse, Nicolas Pignon, and Vinia Vilers
Not Rated