13 (Tzameti)

It is primarily its frank cheek and explosive violence that give this feature début in black & white its oppressive and mysterious mood. 13 (Tzameti) is the story of Sébastien, a naive kid in his 20s who becomes embroiled in a lugubrious adventure when he blindly follows instructions intended for someone else. The film occasionally adopts the proportions of a Tarantino. Sébastien finds himself in a clandestine world where men gamble behind locked doors with the lives of other men, in which chaos reigns and an ice cold survival instinct seems to be the only way out. The stakes are high. Babluani’s play with lighting effects further emphasises this impressionistic film noir that is edited with a firm hand. Gela Babluani, the son of the film director Temur Babluani, grew up in civil-war-torn Georgia in which violence, corruption and death were commonplace. His love for film was fed by the great silent Soviet films he saw with his father in Tblisi. The eloquence of the black & white images and the compelling cutting continued to influence him. From his first short film, A fleur de peau, Babluani has tried to translate his visual memory and personal experiences into a film language all of his own. (SdH)