13 tzameti
Last night I got to see the foreign film 13 Tzameti in the DPAC. Let me tell you, that was quite the psychological ride.
The film documents the story of a young man who has been hired to fix the roof of an elderly gentleman's house. The old man is noticeably out of sorts and his caretaker doesn't seem to have much compassion for him. One day, the old man receives a letter in the post, and it seems that many people are interested in the contents of this letter, including the caretaker and the authorities, who are spying on the man. While working on the roof, the young man learns that the contents of the letter could lead to a large amount of money, and of course his family could desperately use this money. When the old man kills himself by overdosing on drugs, the young man obtains the letter and follows the instructions himself. He soon finds himself trapped inside a crazy underground world as contestant number 13 in an incredible variant of Russian Roulette where the players, each armed with a six-shooter, stand in a circle and point their one-in-six chance at death into the back of the head of the man in front of him while other men place bets on who will survive and who will not. And that's not the half of it.
The story is so incredibly psychologically intense. The film is shot in black and white on lower quality film with a mostly subtle soundtrack--it is amazing that so much tension is built without much emphasis on visual or auditory cues, nor the dialogue, but just the pure emotion of the actors, the pure shock of being so quickly submerged into this dark world. Even though the plot grows more predictable as the story goes on, the sense of dread and amazement I felt from the first twenty minutes of the movie only continued to intensify, all the way to the final scene of the movie, which ends appropriately both in terms of plot and presentation. It was just an incredibly well-done work that evoked more powerful emotion in me than any movie I can remember. It is so dark and so intense and so well done, that it was strange to feel sick, head spinning, stomach churning, during the credits and marvel at how awesome that was, how simply and effectively it was all excuted.
The film is in French with English subtitles and runs for just under 90 minutes. Apparently the director/screenwriter has received the green light for creating an American version of the film, but he wants to tell a similar story in an entirely new way--shooting in color, adding a B-plot, and so forth. I look forward to seeing it when it's finished just to compare the two. I can only assume that this original version will be way better, though.
Honestly, it feels contrary to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this film, because it absolutely tore me to shreds, it was so raw and well done. Just incredible.
The film documents the story of a young man who has been hired to fix the roof of an elderly gentleman's house. The old man is noticeably out of sorts and his caretaker doesn't seem to have much compassion for him. One day, the old man receives a letter in the post, and it seems that many people are interested in the contents of this letter, including the caretaker and the authorities, who are spying on the man. While working on the roof, the young man learns that the contents of the letter could lead to a large amount of money, and of course his family could desperately use this money. When the old man kills himself by overdosing on drugs, the young man obtains the letter and follows the instructions himself. He soon finds himself trapped inside a crazy underground world as contestant number 13 in an incredible variant of Russian Roulette where the players, each armed with a six-shooter, stand in a circle and point their one-in-six chance at death into the back of the head of the man in front of him while other men place bets on who will survive and who will not. And that's not the half of it.
The story is so incredibly psychologically intense. The film is shot in black and white on lower quality film with a mostly subtle soundtrack--it is amazing that so much tension is built without much emphasis on visual or auditory cues, nor the dialogue, but just the pure emotion of the actors, the pure shock of being so quickly submerged into this dark world. Even though the plot grows more predictable as the story goes on, the sense of dread and amazement I felt from the first twenty minutes of the movie only continued to intensify, all the way to the final scene of the movie, which ends appropriately both in terms of plot and presentation. It was just an incredibly well-done work that evoked more powerful emotion in me than any movie I can remember. It is so dark and so intense and so well done, that it was strange to feel sick, head spinning, stomach churning, during the credits and marvel at how awesome that was, how simply and effectively it was all excuted.
The film is in French with English subtitles and runs for just under 90 minutes. Apparently the director/screenwriter has received the green light for creating an American version of the film, but he wants to tell a similar story in an entirely new way--shooting in color, adding a B-plot, and so forth. I look forward to seeing it when it's finished just to compare the two. I can only assume that this original version will be way better, though.
Honestly, it feels contrary to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this film, because it absolutely tore me to shreds, it was so raw and well done. Just incredible.