From Omeleto.
A man’s drive is disrupted by a call.
THIRTEEN is used with permission from Viktoria Windhab. Learn more at https://instagram.com/thirteen.film.
Successful tax accountant Thomas has been working overtime and finally reached the end of a long day. He’s finally driving home, but after settling into his BMW and checking one last message from his wife, he gets a phone call from an unknown caller. At first, he ignores it, but once he’s on the road, he answers when it rings again.
On the other line is a menacingly disguised voice that knows the name and insurance numbers of his wife and child. The unknown caller then gives instructions for Thomas to pick up and then deliver a package. Thomas thinks it is a joke at first, but then he realizes he is being blackmailed: if he doesn’t transport the package, the caller will tell Nina of Thomas’s deepest secrets.
Directed by Viktoria Windhab and written by Tom Bezhanishvili, who also plays the lead role of Thomas, this short thriller drama is a study of how a man’s carefully constructed life can fall apart over the course of a car ride. The initial catalyst is a blackmail call, but as the storytelling digs deeper, it becomes a study of the pernicious power of secrets: how they’re often used to control and manipulate life, but how they ultimately have control over you.
Deftly directed, the narrative is unmistakably a thriller in tone and execution, with its coolly modern look and gleaming lighting. Though much of the film takes place in the cramped confines of a car, it nevertheless achieves a dynamism with its quicksilver editing, icy musical score and tightly controlled images. But the storytelling allows us to linger in key moments with Thomas’s family and others, amping up the stakes and building his character. He’s a man who seemingly has it all: a good job, a loving wife, an adorable child, and a nice home and car. The cleverly constructed writing reveals layer after layer of Thomas’s life, including the hidden aspects of his self and life that he’s carefully kept separate from each other.
Beyond the potential chaos, the stress of the situation causes Thomas to spiral slowly as he anxiously tries to contain the damage. Actor Tom Bezhanishvili plays Thomas as a typical middle-class man and worker at first, with a calm demeanor and a mild manner. But as Thomas’s secrets come to the surface, he quietly peels away layers of the character until he is reduced to a drained emotional wreck, full of resentment at the careful life he’s been trying to maintain. He’s built his own prison, and now those walls, like the car, feel more confining than ever.
Just as Thomas realizes he’s lost control of his secrets, he loses control over his life, sending him into a quiet panic and sending THIRTEEN into its final movement. It builds to a subtle yet taut crescendo, as Thomas readies himself to confront who has been blackmailing him — and turns into an ironic confrontation of the biggest lie of his life. In doing so, Thomas perhaps achieves a hapless, dark solution to his ultimate problem, even if it destroys everything else.
