A young man trying to help support his family with roofing gigs overhears a mysterious conversation on the job. His employer seems to be involved in some amazing money making scheme and when the man dramatically kills himself, our hero takes the train ticket and hotel reservation which has been sent to him. What he finds at the end of that trip only gets more dangerous by the minute in Gela Bablauni's movie, 13 Tzameti, which opens at Film Forum next week.
13 Tzameti is the French-Russian director's first movie and it's not surprising it won both Best First Feature at the Venice Film Festival in 2005 and the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at this year's Sundance. Shot in black and white and in Cinemascope, the movie seems to be both an old time noir while also a very modern story about the immigrant experience in France. Bablauni wrote, directed and produced the movie on a very small budget, with lots of family and friends in the cast—his main character Sebastien is played excellently by Gela's younger brother Georges. But unlike some flashy Hollywood thriller, Bablauni lets the story unfold quietly but with intensity and as Sebastien realizes he's become embroiled in an underworld roulette game, you're literally on the edge of your seat. Without giving away the ending or any more of this fascinating plot, the final moments made us gasp out loud.
Gothamist is so enthused about this film, we've been talking about it with practically everyone we've seen in the last few weeks. Bablauni is currently writing a script for the American remake but we think you should see the original as soon as possible. In fact we're sure it will be one of your favorites for the summer, and so we're offering a free advance screening next Tuesday night at 7:30 pm for our readers. Contest link is below, so please join us for this amazing flick.
To win a pair of tickets, please email GothamistContest (at) gmail dot com
