Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.
Georgian Géla Babluani impresses in this taut, black-and-white thriller debut. Sébastien (Georges Babluani) is an impoverished builder, seeking money for his family. Increasingly desperate, he’s drawn to a clandestine betting ring, where businessmen gamble on the lives of human players in games of Russian Roulette.
Aided by the ominous score and grainy cinematography, Babluani conjures a nightmarish, masculine underworld. The lethal contests are chilling in their simplicity: an umpire screams out commands to the baying punters and panic-stricken contestants – whose bodies are shovelled away between rounds. Babluani has a keen eye for expressive male faces and no qualms about delivering a grim, fatalistic resolution.
See it before the inevitable, watered-down Hollywood remake.
NO VERDICT
