13 Tzameti

It's very slick and sharply focussed and the tension/ suspense is ratcheted up effectively. It's strange to see the characters who all look like they're straight out of a Godard film getting into modern cars and using mobile phones and stuff. Unlike Good Night and Good Luck where the monochrome situates the viewer firmly in the time period and imparts a sense of crystal clear realism, here it serves to distance you from the events and adds a feeling of dislocation, which heightens your association with the out of his depth immigrant protagonist.

Stylistically speaking, the closest point of comparison is probably John Wagners Button Man comic book. A spartan plot, loose class politics allegory and a kind of retro-contemporary setting. That said, Tzameti bizzarely seems to fit more into the sports film template than anything else. True there's no training montage, but the structure of the competition that is the films center piece is pure Rocky.

Also worth noting that if you know nothing about this film when you start watching it you'll probably enjoy it a hell of a lot more than if you've seen the trailer/ box cover both of which are a bit spoilerific.

IMDB