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DVD Tuesday: You Bet Your Life in 13 Tzameti
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
The ice-cold thriller 13 Tzameti was one of my favorite films of last year and now that it's on DVD I hope it will find an audience. I put it on my five-best list (compiled under pressure, by the way, because I hate the reductiveness of lists... but that's another discussion) and the overwhelming response from readers was "I've never heard of it." That started some discussion about the difference between what critics like and what "normal people" like. Feel free to weigh in.
But I think the real problem with 13 Tzameti is nothing more or less than that it got such a limited release that lots of moviegoers who would have loved it never got the chance to see it. It's in black-and-white and a foreign language — two foreign languages, actually: French and Georgian. And that's a kiss-of-death double whammy in the current marketplace. Why? Beats me. I really don't find reading subtitles so onerous, and in my experience they're far better done than they used to be: I can't remember the last time I saw several minutes worth of white subtitles superimposed over a woman's white blouse, so you could only read the first word and last words of each phrase.
But back to 13 Tzameti. The writing and directing debut of French-based, Georgian-born director Gela Baluani, it spins ideas from The Deer Hunter (1978), Intacto (2001) and Hostel (2006) into a dry, bitter horror tale about desperation and depravity. Impoverished, 22-year-old Georgian immigrant Sebastien (George Babluani, the filmmaker's brother) supports his family as a roof his bills and sees no chance to get ahead. Until, that is, he one day overhears a tantalizing conversation while working on the rundown seaside cottage. The cottage is occupied by a middle-aged junkie who's waiting for a letter that represents a lucrative but dangerous opportunity — one he's not sure he'll survive. Daniel intercepts the letter and follows its circuitous directions to a forbidding house in a dark wood; he pretends to be someone else and is completely unaware of what he's signed on for. Suffice it to say that he eventually learns that he's agreed to be part of in a lethal game arranged by lifelong gamblers who, having bet on everything, devised a cruel new thrill for themselves. Survival is nothing more than a matter of luck, and the odds against winning could only appeal to someone who thinks he has nothing to lose.
Without being anywhere near as explicitly violent as Hostel, 13 Tzameti is harrowing and haunting. The black-and-white cinematography contributes to the feeling that it's a fairy tale filtered through the aesthetics of film noir, all white-hot points of light burning through inky shadows. Babluani's father is a respected Georgian filmmaker who sent his children to Paris when the chaos and random violence of post-perestroika Tbilisi became overwhelming. Even without knowing the specifics of the filmmakers' background, 13 Tzameti gives off a vivid air of barely suppressed panic and constant, low-grade anxiety that suggests the sensibilities of someone who grew up in a world that couldn't be trusted to be rational or reasonable, let alone fair.
It's a stunning debut and I recommend it highly.
Oh, and about the title: "tzameti" means 13; apparently the distributor wanted to have their Georgian and English, too, so yes, the title is "13 thirteen."
THINGS TO CONSIDER:
Are the opinions of critics and nonprofessional movie fans really so different?
Lifelong gamblers say gambling isn't about the money — the money is just a way of keeping score. What do you think they mean and what do you think of it?
What is the problem with foreign films? I find it hard to believe that most people only like juiced-up Hollywood action movies and never want something different, but distributors seem to feel there isn't an audience worth pursuing for anything else.
Is dubbing better than subtitling?
To paraphrase the Bible, what does it profit a man to gain worldly things and lose — or at least desperately damage — his soul?
Remember: Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Previous DVD Tuesday blogs:
The Departed
Suspiria
Kiss and Make Up
Kiss Me Deadly
The Long Good Friday
What Alice Found
The Devil's Backbone
The Descent
The Devil Wears Prada
Pandora's Box
The Thief and the Cobbler
Nashville
Panic in the Streets/Jack Palance Interview
The Pusher Trilogy
Scarface
Slither
Sunset Blvd.
In Cold Blood
Brick
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Feb 20, 2007 11:04 AM
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I just watched this movie yesterday and thought it was fantastic! I don't remember it being in theaters but saw it on some year end lists so I checked it out. I didn't know what it was about which made the film even more intense and harrowing. I loved that it was in black and white--it completely worked for the story.
I also hope more people see this film.
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Feb 20, 2007 12:43 PM
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With ticket prices as high as they are I admit that I will sometimes choose a "blockbuster" movie over another, because the visuals and sound really need to be experienced on the big screen. I've had to pass on a lot of movies at the theater this year (not just foreign) and wait for DVD release because I don't feel that anything is being lost when watched at home. Maybe that's the fault of marketing, I don't know. When I saw the trailer for Brotherhood of the Wolf I didn't care that it was a foreign film, because it looked awesome.
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Feb 20, 2007 3:15 PM
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If the ticket price is high, shouldn't you spend your money on something more substantial than popcorn filler so that you have a lingering sense of value to your hard-earned dollar?
Just a thought.
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Feb 21, 2007 3:16 PM
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