'13' lucky for Babluani

'13 (Tzameti)' helmer Gela Babluani is to remake his brilliant thriller in America.

Oct 18 2006

Hot on the heels of Michael Haneke doing a seemingly pointless remake of his brilliant 'Funny Games', Gela Babluani is working on a similarly moribund Amercian version of the wonderful '13 (Tzameti)'.

Babluani has been working on an English-language re-draft of the script with American screenwriter Gregory Prusse, and is currently scouting locations in Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia.

For those who haven't seen the original, it's the incredibly tense account of a secret society of gamblers who bet on a horrific form of Russian roulette.

The film won the Venice Lion of the Future and picked up countless awards at other festivals across the globe, and I'm still recovering having watched it for the first time last month.

Bubluani says the newly monikered '13' won't be a shot-for-shot remake, explaining 'The movie is about a game, so the rules of the game will essentially stay the same. But I really want to introduce new characters and situations'.

But I'm of the opinion that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', and it pains me to see a talented young director like Babluani retreading old ground rather than offering us something fresh and original.

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