Review of 13 Tzameti (2006) by Seamus K — 13 Dec 2008

This is one of those rare films where I not only disliked the ending but know exactly what I would have done differently.

The movie centers on a working class family in France. While the young son Sebastien is doing a roofing job for a career criminal who is down on his luck, he overhears him discussing a job opportunity potentially worth a lot of money. When the man overdoses, Sebastien steals the information and attempts to take his place, but the job isn't quite what he expected.

The film leads you to believe that the job will be dangerous but most crime is, and you never have reason to suspect that it will be something worse than acting as a drug mule. So it comes as a bit of a shock when we discover that the job is in fact playing a murder for entertainment game. The winner stands to make a lot of money indeed, but the losers all end up dead. I feel the need to add at this point that this is not like Hostel or any sort of torture porn flick. The idea occurred to me after reading the premise and I was very happy to have it proven wrong.

In regards to the ending I'll try not to give too much away. I'll just say that death is not always as edgy as many people believe it to be, and that there are ways, sometimes superior ways, to convey tragedy without it.

I would recommend this to anyone who is in the mood for something cool and original. It isn't perfect, but not much is.