Generally, I am very choosy when it comes to movies I do not watch pieces of which 12 are a dozen and that is all we can say about them , and that is with a reason. But this time I was not cautious enough. 13 Tzameti (which is one more than a dozen) aroused my attention merely by its title. Then, it started to play in my favourite movie theater, and that was when I did not question its predicted values. Well, I should have been more careful, because I was in for a great load of disappointment.
13 Tzameti is one of a kind, no question about that. But it is the most pointless, dullest piece of trash I have seen for a long time. I really cannot write much about it without giving away the plot. It tries to be utterly pure like some of Antonioni's or Claude Chabrol's movies, or from more recent times, those of Francoise Ozon, but ends up a meaningless waste of celluloid, time and money. It lacks a well-established context and is violent beyond comprehension. It is l'art pour l'art violence, there is no point in it, no intrinsic moral lesson, nothing. Even the worst thrillers and action flicks have some aspiration to convey some message, even if they fail to do so. They have a few twists and turns and a feeble attempt to entertain or to deter, but 13 Tzameti offers nothing. Director Géla Babluani thought it was going to be very stylish and artistic to shoot in good old black and white anyway, but it is rather pretentious instead. Outrageously so.
Sometimes negative criticism can be a good omen, but not in this case. Censorship can never be justified, but if you go watch this one you will wonder how it made it to movie theaters. Would my home-made pseudo-artistic shocker I shot with a 16mm I bought at the dime store also make it? Believe me, it is a fairly justifiable question here. But you do not want me to ask it for real, do you?
13 Tzameti is one of a kind, no question about that. But it is the most pointless, dullest piece of trash I have seen for a long time. I really cannot write much about it without giving away the plot. It tries to be utterly pure like some of Antonioni's or Claude Chabrol's movies, or from more recent times, those of Francoise Ozon, but ends up a meaningless waste of celluloid, time and money. It lacks a well-established context and is violent beyond comprehension. It is l'art pour l'art violence, there is no point in it, no intrinsic moral lesson, nothing. Even the worst thrillers and action flicks have some aspiration to convey some message, even if they fail to do so. They have a few twists and turns and a feeble attempt to entertain or to deter, but 13 Tzameti offers nothing. Director Géla Babluani thought it was going to be very stylish and artistic to shoot in good old black and white anyway, but it is rather pretentious instead. Outrageously so.
Sometimes negative criticism can be a good omen, but not in this case. Censorship can never be justified, but if you go watch this one you will wonder how it made it to movie theaters. Would my home-made pseudo-artistic shocker I shot with a 16mm I bought at the dime store also make it? Believe me, it is a fairly justifiable question here. But you do not want me to ask it for real, do you?