13 Tzameti
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Between being cranky most of the week, recovering from a cold, staying put on the border of irritation and frustration, the Black Friday storm brewing both in front and behind the PFC screen, and tons of other mundane meaningless jobs… I picked up 13 Tzameti as my Wednesday evening movie on my overloaded, praying for a break DVD player.
Getting right into it, 13 Tzameti, is in French with English subtitles and was the winner at Sundance, 2 years ago. It’s made by first time director Gla Babluani, and shot completely in Black and White.
The movie starts slow and you may feel there is a certain amount of amateurishness in the way the movie is progressing… but 20 minutes into the movie, the pace picks up as the director first casually lays out the characters and then unfolds the beginning of the suspense… the first of the two. The second is more nail biting, and churns you inside out as you wait for the outcome…
13 Tzameti stars George Babluani as Sbastien, a 22 year old roof fixer, who’s fixing the roof of a couple where the women is consistently after her man Jean-Franois, who’s constantly under the influence of drugs. Characters flow in like the visitor or the suspicious looking man in the car forever taking pictures of the people in the house that Sbastien, is fixing the roof of.
The director spends time to let us know about Sbastien and his family who appear to be migrant workers hard pressed for cash.
The first seeds of intrigue are laid down by the director when we realize that Jean-Franois and his woman along with a friend are awaiting a letter to arrive in the mail. The letter it seems is also being expected by the suspicious looking man in car outside who’s busy clicking the pictures of those inside the house.
You also realize that the letter means a lot of money, as Jean-Franois keeps mentioning it to his woman and friend. But what is the letter? And when will it arrive?
The letter does arrive. It contains a ticket and a paid in advance hotel receipt.
And by certain well done twists, it’s Sbastien in who’s hands the letter falls. Since he has a faint idea that the letter could mean a lot of money, he decides to take the ticket, ride the train and arrives at the hotel, where he receives a phone call…
The movie there on moves on to some sharp chilling block of a story, where humans are tested to their limit. The emotional breakdown or cracks that begin to appear in the human psyche under extreme tensile situations is brilliantly captured by Gla Babluani. You can see how the writer and director in Babluani perfectly compliment each other in such scenes.
Not sure about giving the movie a black and white backdrop, as it to some extent, adds to the feeling of amateurishness. But then all can be forgiven because 13 Tzameti is an quite a good movie with a chilling story to be made by a first timer.
Now it’s time to put Babluani’s next project on my Netflix queue Hritage, L’.
oz Rating : See your psychiatrist after watching this movie if you are already suffering from depression. In case you aren’t, gulp down half a bottle of scotch. Avoid contact with all striped colored envelopes that arrive in your mail and put Jenna Jameson on an infinite loop on your DVD to help erase any shocks 13 Tzameti may give you. Only for the movie fanatic. Casual movie watchers specially those with wives and girlfriends should avoid this one.
Check the trailer out.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
wowww.. see? now THAT is what i call a TRAILER!! shukriya oz
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Just places it right on top of netflix queue.
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hey OZ – Sounds like an interesting film hmmm? And how come tabiyat theek nahi hain? Take care bro, so sorry for the other day yaar, you called and i was sleeping. I did wait for your call, in case if there is anything urgent, do mail me and it will be taken care of OZ. In the mean time did you write to Sourabh Narang? I might meet him today.
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I didn’t really like Tzameti. It was definitely amateurish and the lead actor was a bad one too. Again the end was predictable. But 13 definitely has certain moments filed with tension and suspense but the resolution of all that suspense is rather filmy.
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Wow!! What a trailor!!! thnx OZ. Havent seen the film but the trailor seves its purpose for sure.
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Oz: pyschological drama or violence also?
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Same genre as the *Experiment*?
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= Striker, Saurabh, Phoenixnu, yes the trailer is powerful…
= Chaitanya, true. I gave more weightage to the fact that it’s made by a first time director. Amateurish, yes it is in many a scene.
= RK, Both
= WB, Not seen the Experiment… darn… adding it to my Netflix queue
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OZ: you are scaring me. pyschological and violent and one can go in depression. Ye film hai ya chemical locha?:o
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