Overrated and overhyped

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

At times during the film, I was thinking of movies by Roman Polanski ('Repulsion', 'Le locataire'), because of similarities in style. But, in the films by him that I know, Polanski has more to say. Actually, I'm not sure what this film ís saying. The premise is as far fetched as one can get it, which is the main obstacle. Beyond that, it is hardly anything more than a brutal drama, without much substance - although it starts out pretty strong.George Babluani does a good job, though, as do most of the actors. The style - all black and white - is very nice and well executed (no pun intended), and the soundtrack is quite atmospheric. It all works, except for the basic premise and the thin dramatic themes... And who really enjoys watching a game like that for such a long time? I'm in a bind there. I could of course try to think of what mankind is capable of, or imagine how this is on some level metaphoric, but it doesn't help much.5 out of 10, without wanting to dwell on it any further.

a very dark tale about lost hope and entertainment. that's it. the characters are all driven into the same goal, so we can relate to them easily. i think the main character was presented too slowly but i didn't mind much. i also think they played too high with the probabilities - i have doubts if anyone could be so lucky to survive 3 times to this - but in the end that's gibberish . mostly because its main idea is nicely explored, with logic, and with worries to relate the viewers to the characters.it has a huge dramatical atmosphere, the viewer feels the pressure of the characters, we got scared with the light, the movie is not amazingly surprising but i did like the ending, and it proposes some questions to us: why the hell do we have people capable of kill and die basically for nothing? who are the viewers of this show, making bets, rooting for the "athletes"? i think the answers for both is "us". now we are at the viewer side, comfortably sit, while we see people killing each other on the screen. but we'll we have our sofa forever? if we become desperate is it impossible for everyone to do this? don't think so.an accurate social commentary, with a well-built tension and characters we can understand. great cinematography also, and overall a very good movie. go watch it, you won't regret.

I watched 13 Tzameti because a friend recommended to me and except the ending, everything in this film was predictable. The protagonist win all round of Russian roulette, it was pretty clear as he doesn't will die. The ending catch up the predictable things though. Few shots give some headaches, i think it has been shot with a digital camera (when he go buy food at the end, or when he talk with his family at beginning). It's the first movie of the director so it's understandable. Excluding all negative points, i liked as the protagonist is Georgian, really rare to see this nationality on movies and sure, the black and white style.

I don't know what everyone is banging on about with the oh so 'violent' roulette scenes, you're all joking right??? Whats so violent about it? You barely see any blood what so ever, most of which is colorless from the crap black and white picture.The lead actor is utterly bland and wooden. His supposed fear when hes pulling his "oh god I'm scared" grimaces was a bit laughable to be honest.There's no WAY he would just take that letter and go on a trip not knowing what its about, who in their right mind would even bother???? I saw the ending a mile off as well.Also annoying was the wide-angle lens used, it was terrible.Boring.