10.23.06

13 Tzameti

Posted in Movies at 10:16 pm by Joe Blubaugh

Or: Never steal a dead man’s things.

Beware, reader, it’s the beginning of the Milwaukee International Film Festival for Joe. I still have five films slated for the next three days, so prepare for an onslaught of cinematic opinion.

13 Tzameti is a French film written and directed by Géla Babluani. It’s a straightforward thriller about a roofer who blindly follows some cryptic instructions and lands hard in a bad scene. Sebastien (the roofer) overhears his latest client discussing a deal with his friend, telling him he hopes to make enough money to escape his current troubles. After the man OD’s in his bathtub, Sebastien takes the man’s train ticket and hotel accommodations, hoping to secure the money for his impoverished family. He follows a set of cryptic phone instructions, and winds up in the middle of a lethal underground gambling ring.

The setup is great, ripe for the sort of self-discovery that directors and authors have always told us happens in life-and-death situations. Unfortunately, Babluani remains fixated on Sebastien and only gives us the briefest of glances at the other members of the twisted roulette circle that Sebastien finds himself in. Perhaps Babluani wanted everything to remain as mysterious and confusing to the audience as it is to Sebastien. I felt a little cheated, though, since I never learned why any of the other competitors wound up playing for their lives. If Babluani’s goal was to leave me mystified, he succeeded.

The cleanup after the game, such as it is, drags the film along behind it. There’s an unnecessary police investigation and revenge killing, but it all feels tacked on. American films never have this much denouement, but it is a French word, after all.

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