The Georgian-born French director Gela Babluani makes an absorbing debut with this black-and-white thriller.
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10/13/06
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13 Tzameti (2006)
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Reviews Counted:64
Fresh:53
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: This starkly minimalist nail-biter of a thriller relentlessly builds up the tension and keeps the audience guessing.
Theatrical Release:Jul 28, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Twenty-two-year-old Sebastien (Georges Babluani) leads an impoverished life with his immigrant family constantly struggling to support them. While repairing the roof of a neighbor's house, he... [More]
Starring: George Babluani, Jean Pascal Bongard, Aurelien Recoing, Fred Ulysse
Director: Géla Babluani
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Reviews for 13 Tzameti
Top Critic13 Tzameti is certainly nightmarish, but it's the kind of nightmare that fades instead of lingering on in the memory.
08/05/06
By the end ... audiences will need mass manicures.
07/27/06
Top CriticThe earned payoff is an all-too-believable shocker.
10/12/06
...For sure, you won't be able to stop watching.
08/21/06
Gela Babluani creates tension with a stripped-down style and an unflinching camera and drives the film with a crisp pace that feels both out-of-control and achingly protracted.
06/04/06
"13 Tzameti" has you on the edge of your seat with a story that throws unexpected punches at every corner.
01/19/07
At its center is an astonishing set-piece that will rivet almost any moviegoer.
03/01/07
The problem is, however, that it doesn't get to live in that world as successfully as one would hope, but instead is a common visitor with flashes of genius.
06/06/06
an impressively noirish moral fable that, for all its bleakness, offers ample rewards to those willing to take a chance on it.
07/02/07
The terrible game of life is boiled down to its essentials in this new film from 26-year-old Georgian director Gela Babluani, who makes a stunning debut with what might yet become a classic.
01/14/06
Demands to be seen for the juice it manages to wring out of its central gambit but mostly for the directorial career it hints is on the horizon.
08/25/06
Top Criticthe most artsy spin on The Most Dangerous Game ever plunked down on the screen.
02/12/07
...a film noir look reminiscent of the 1940's but with an excitement that is thoroughly new millennium
09/03/06
...a stylish, bleak film noir where men either have little hope or so much money it has perverted their souls.
08/20/06
13 Tzameti does suffer from a weak and even lazy conclusion, but that doesn't stop 90 minutes that come before it. This truly is deserving of being unforgettable.
10/13/07
I knew nothing before I saw this film, except I heard it was intense (it is) and a little violent (also true). It's also well made, disturbing, and rather hard to forget.
07/30/07
What a depressing spectacle. But it’s the most good-looking, well-acted, tension-filled depressing spectacle you’re likely to see any time soon.
06/24/06
The central betting game makes up for the contrived pretensions of trying to make it look like a black and white classic.
08/04/06
French art thriller 13 Tzameti has a literal hair-trigger premise, yet it's so lacking in human dimensions that it creates virtually no suspense.
08/02/06
Top CriticLatest News for 13 Tzameti
January 14, 2009:
13 Is Chriqui's Lucky Number 
Emmanuelle Chriqui has joined the cast of "13," the "13 Tzameti" remake that also stars Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, 50 Cent, Ray Winstone, Ben Gazzara, and Alex Skarsgard. More...
October 21, 2008:
Statham and Rourke Starring in 13 Tzameti Remake
Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, and 50 Cent have signed on to star in Gela Babluani's "13," a remake of the director's own French-language film "13 Tzameti." More...
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