13 (TZAMETI) - WOW - Current fav dvd of the year?
04-26-06, 09:16 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 174
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
13 (TZAMETI) - WOW - Current fav dvd of the year?
Hi,
Had to change the handle to "Splattii2" to get around password loss
What can I say about this little gem. It's just FANTASTIC. I may have just overlooked it, but I haven't really seen much buzz on this movie at all on the net!? I picked it up as a guess while in Europe. Unfortunatly I can't even really talk about the plot in great lengths, as I don't want to ruin it. The first half of the film has the audience trying figure out what in fact the lead character's "unknown task" is going to entail, and the second half shows the director make a strong and violent statement. The second half the movie is a little too much (violent and brutal) for a North American audience, or I'd say remake this thing now and have a cult smash. I don't even know what to compare it to. When it ended I just remember thinking to myself "damn, that was pretty cool"
It's been a long time since I watched a DVD at home in which I didn't look at the clock on the dvd player once, or even turn to a friend and suggest I knew which direction the film was about to go in. This has "CULT" written all over it. Has anyone else seen this movie? Is it just me, or was this a damn good/entertaining film? I wish I could speak on it more, but I don't want to ruin it by mistake. Here is the coverart I have;
Had to change the handle to "Splattii2" to get around password loss
What can I say about this little gem. It's just FANTASTIC. I may have just overlooked it, but I haven't really seen much buzz on this movie at all on the net!? I picked it up as a guess while in Europe. Unfortunatly I can't even really talk about the plot in great lengths, as I don't want to ruin it. The first half of the film has the audience trying figure out what in fact the lead character's "unknown task" is going to entail, and the second half shows the director make a strong and violent statement. The second half the movie is a little too much (violent and brutal) for a North American audience, or I'd say remake this thing now and have a cult smash. I don't even know what to compare it to. When it ended I just remember thinking to myself "damn, that was pretty cool"
It's been a long time since I watched a DVD at home in which I didn't look at the clock on the dvd player once, or even turn to a friend and suggest I knew which direction the film was about to go in. This has "CULT" written all over it. Has anyone else seen this movie? Is it just me, or was this a damn good/entertaining film? I wish I could speak on it more, but I don't want to ruin it by mistake. Here is the coverart I have;
04-26-06, 10:20 AM
#3
I checked out Amazon.co.uk and it doesn't list it has having English subs. Does it have it on there? I'm going to order it if it does. I also checked out IMBD and it looks like everyone that saw it is highly recommending it and someone there started a rumour that Brad Pitt wants to do a remake.
04-26-06, 10:40 AM
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Europe
Posts: 550
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yes, it has English subs and French 2.0 audio. The subs are listed at Play: http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/SB/3-/902550/-/Product.html, and there's a review here: http://www.dvdactive.com/reviews/dvd/13-tzameti.html
04-26-06, 12:36 PM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: england
Posts: 977
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
yeh, seen some trailers and coverage of the film online : not seen it myself, but it does like a nice little film. cant buy everything though.
yes, the english R2 UK DVD has english subs (of course) and i think theres a trailer on that play.com page and some various other trailers for it still online. one or two of them might be spoilerific though.
yes, the english R2 UK DVD has english subs (of course) and i think theres a trailer on that play.com page and some various other trailers for it still online. one or two of them might be spoilerific though.
04-26-06, 06:11 PM
#7
DVD Talk Special Edition
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Earth
Posts: 1,358
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I've seen it, and I also won't indulge in spoilers, but a ton of buzz was to be heard regarding this film by Géla Babluani, son of famous Georgian director Temur Babluani. It did after all win the Dramatic World Cinema Jury Prize at this years Sundance.
As is typically the case with me, I was wary of the raves, and after having seen it, personally, I found the film to be rather banal when all was said and done. There's no doubt in my mind that the controversial nature of the film will lead it to becoming an instant cult favorite with a fairly large and vocal fanbase, however, the first act is fairly drawn-out, and the cinematography is mearly pedestrian considering it's obviously aspiring to be a stylistic neo-noir. When the picture starts rolling at about the halfway point it's really quite enjoyable, but the rigid construction of the plot sets such excruciatingly tight and obvious limits on where the whole thing can go that near the end there's very little to no room left for any real dramatic tension. The denouement is a bit of a letdown.
An interesting and entertaining first film worth a view and a directer to keep an eye on, but not something I'll be spending time with again.
As is typically the case with me, I was wary of the raves, and after having seen it, personally, I found the film to be rather banal when all was said and done. There's no doubt in my mind that the controversial nature of the film will lead it to becoming an instant cult favorite with a fairly large and vocal fanbase, however, the first act is fairly drawn-out, and the cinematography is mearly pedestrian considering it's obviously aspiring to be a stylistic neo-noir. When the picture starts rolling at about the halfway point it's really quite enjoyable, but the rigid construction of the plot sets such excruciatingly tight and obvious limits on where the whole thing can go that near the end there's very little to no room left for any real dramatic tension. The denouement is a bit of a letdown.
An interesting and entertaining first film worth a view and a directer to keep an eye on, but not something I'll be spending time with again.
Last edited by meritocracy; 04-26-06 at 06:16 PM.
04-28-06, 12:21 AM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Europe
Posts: 620
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It's a good film, but not cult to me.
An interview in french of Gela Babluani is on the Blog of the film
That's where I learned that tzameti means 13 in georgian
, and the last film Babluani liked was Kim Ki-Duk's "3 Irons".
An interview in french of Gela Babluani is on the Blog of the film
That's where I learned that tzameti means 13 in georgian
, and the last film Babluani liked was Kim Ki-Duk's "3 Irons".
05-09-06, 04:04 PM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Puget Sound
Posts: 531
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Very good film. Reminded me of Intacto a bit.
Very atmospheric and I liked the lead. I found it a little hard to accept the conceit of the film but hey, it's better than watching Pearl Harbour
05-10-06, 09:36 PM
#13
DVD Talk Gold Edition
It's a nice little film. I don't think I'd call it excellent or very good, but nice is a good description. It would have good replay value in the sense that it is something I could envision pulling out and showing to guests (aided also by its easy moving sub-90 minute runtime). Not really the kind of thing though that I'd watch by myself over and over. If there were a crime/noir/suspense anthology TV show akin to "Twilight Zone", "Outer Limits", etc. then this is the sort of thing I'd expect to see on there.........meaning the film wasn't overly cinematic. I really liked the decision to shoot in black & white and in that way the film looked good. I don't know if the Director was going for stylish neo-noir as an earlier poster mentioned (if so I'd agree it wasn't successful) but setting that aside I thought it looked nice (in terms of framing of shots, etc.) but certainly rather vanilla. The acting was good, but more deserving of praise is the selection of the cast in terms of actual physical looks. There are not many women in the film so I'm referring to the men; they were a lot of interesting looking faces which - acting skills aside - exuded a lot of character. All in all, it felt like a smaller-budget but professionally done film.
The film has pretty much three distinct parts. For lack of a better term, I'd call it a gimmick film, with the gimmick coming in the middle third. The first third is good but rather routine but certainly does create interest as you are drawn in and begin wondering how things are going to unfold. The middle third initially reveals a little more and really grabs you in even more.......and soon after, you gain an understanding of what the film is about (not revolutionary or anything, but a reasonable payoff nonetheless). After you gain this knowledge, the next scene is rather suspenseful and it is here where the film hits its high point. After that you just watch this section play itself out. The last third brings things down even more and I thought it was the least satisfying of the three sections. Personally, I didn't find the film nearly as riveting or violent as a lot of the reviews have mentioned (but I watch a fair amount of violent cinema, certainly more than your typical commercial audience). I'd call the film "interesting and suspenseful to a commendable degree" but not really edge-of-my-seat thrilling or overly shocking or brutal.
That said, I'm pleased with my purchase though a sub-$20 pricetag would have been more appropriate. I didn't get completely in to the extras but there seemed to be an English-subbed interview with the Director (approx. 17 minutes) as well as an English-subbed interview with the star (who happens to be the Director's younger brother). From what little I watched, they seemed like very likeable fellows and it made me glad that I supported their film. I'm not sure "Tzameti" is the type of thing that should be top priority on one's to-buy list but it can certainly be slotted for purchase down the road. I'll no doubt have interest in whatever the Director does next.
The film has pretty much three distinct parts. For lack of a better term, I'd call it a gimmick film, with the gimmick coming in the middle third. The first third is good but rather routine but certainly does create interest as you are drawn in and begin wondering how things are going to unfold. The middle third initially reveals a little more and really grabs you in even more.......and soon after, you gain an understanding of what the film is about (not revolutionary or anything, but a reasonable payoff nonetheless). After you gain this knowledge, the next scene is rather suspenseful and it is here where the film hits its high point. After that you just watch this section play itself out. The last third brings things down even more and I thought it was the least satisfying of the three sections. Personally, I didn't find the film nearly as riveting or violent as a lot of the reviews have mentioned (but I watch a fair amount of violent cinema, certainly more than your typical commercial audience). I'd call the film "interesting and suspenseful to a commendable degree" but not really edge-of-my-seat thrilling or overly shocking or brutal.
That said, I'm pleased with my purchase though a sub-$20 pricetag would have been more appropriate. I didn't get completely in to the extras but there seemed to be an English-subbed interview with the Director (approx. 17 minutes) as well as an English-subbed interview with the star (who happens to be the Director's younger brother). From what little I watched, they seemed like very likeable fellows and it made me glad that I supported their film. I'm not sure "Tzameti" is the type of thing that should be top priority on one's to-buy list but it can certainly be slotted for purchase down the road. I'll no doubt have interest in whatever the Director does next.
08-05-06, 03:14 AM
#15
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Puget Sound
Posts: 531
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Only £6.97 too at Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000EF7XLA
