Language : French
Director : Gela Babluani
(review by Vinoo)
Sebastien (Georges Babluani), a poor immigrant in France, works at Godon’s house. One day Godon dies of Morphine overdose. Godon’s widow tells Sebastien she can’t pay him for services rendered. Meanwhile Sebastien overhears her conversation and steals an envelope and follows instructions that were meant for Godon. The letter could land him a job and possibly a fortune. Unknown to Sebastien the police are trying to get a break into the illegal betting network through Godon in whose place it will be Sebastien now. The letter lands him straight into the job, which in reality is an ultimate game of death, the Russian roulette where bets are placed on people’s lives. There is no guarantee Sebastien will come away unscathed but he now has no choice but to toe the line. The police lose track of him and Sebastien has to play the deadly game organized by the mafia? He has to just play the role Godon was meant to because the game demands there are 13 people (Tzameti is French for thirteen). Sebastien No 13 and another one of the contestants No.6 are the only survivors in the final round of the Russian roulette. As luck would have it Sebastien survives and then he collects his prize money of Euro 8,50,000? and parcels it home before the police catch up with him. How Sebastien leaves the police with a red herring (always wanted to use that but i hope i got it right ;-)) and what happens to him after forms the climax. Just when you think the film heads to its expected climax it throws up another surprise. Georges Babluani plays Sebastien to perfection. The really tight shots showing the emotions on sebastien’s face, and the pace of the film gets you hooked all the way until the very last scene when the credits roll in. The film is brilliantly scripted and directed and has fabulous performances by the entire crew.
I gather ‘Luck’ is supposedly a blatant lift and as always no credits to the original. Not that giving credit absolves them of the crime. They are sure riding their luck but for how long? I haven’t watched ‘Luck’and don’t intend to. Those who have can validate how original a script it is. Is Palador listening?
Useless trivia : 13 is played brilliantly by Georges Babluani, who is director Gela Babluani’s brother. The film is being remade in English as ‘13’ with Mickey Rourke, Ray Liotta etc. I suspect it will work as well cos I would presume the new faces and the rawness is what really made this a fantastic film. Will wait and watch nevertheless.
Russian roulette was first? made famous by ‘The Deer Hunter’, a film set in backdrop of the Vietnam War.
Graham Greene claimed that in his youth he played Russian Roulette as a means to ‘provide excitement and get away from boredom’ but he later realized that ‘it was no more exciting than taking an Aspirin for a headache’. 🙂
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