A young Georgian immigrant named Sébastien (George Babluani) is looking to provide money for his family in need, in their newly adopted French homeland. When a temp job employer dies before paying him, Sébastien steals a letter from the deceased that contains mysterious, yet enticing prospects for riches. Following through on the letter's instructions will turn out to be more than he bargained for. Sébastien enters an underground world where gamblers line up to take action on other fortune seekers who play a multi-round game of Russian Roulette (it makes "The Deer Hunter" look like child's play), with the last man left alive cashing in. Each contestant is assigned a number, and Sébastien gets stuck with lucky 13 (in the Georgian language, Tzameti/ცამეტი is 13).

"13 Tzameti" was directed by the star's brother Géla. The latter's extremely intense, endlessly gripping 2005 debut feature was shot in glorious black and white, as he said it "removes one realism and replaces it with another." The film won top prizes at Sundance, Venice and various other film festivals around the globe.

Shortly after the film's release, Hollywood snapped up Babluani and had him remake his own movie, but dropped the "Tzameti" from the title and shot it in color. While the all-star tough guy cast is a dream team on paper — Jason Statham, Ray Winstone, 50 Cent, Mickey Rourke, Michael Shannon, Ben Gazzara, Alexander Skarsgård — the resulting movie didn't translate quite as well, and was a critical and box office disappointment.