Maven's Nest
Reel Life: Flick Pix
The built-in suspense of women’s international athletic competition ratchets up with the heavy-handed tactics of an all-controlling government.
By Nora Lee Mandel
Tatami
Directed by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir
Written by Guy Nattiv and Elham Erfani
Produced by Adi Ezroni, Mandy Tagger Brockey, Jaime Ray Newman, and Guy Nattiv
105 mins. Not Rated
With: Arienne Mandi, Zar Amir, Jaime Ray Newman, Nadine Marshall, Lir Katz, and Ash Goldeh
XYZ Films release - now playing in New York at IFC Center, in Los Angeles at Laemmle Royal, and additional theaters nationwide June 27.
Tatami thrillingly illustrates how an authoritarian government actively enforces its ideology on individual citizens. “Death to Israel” hasn’t just been a crowd chant encouraged by the Islamic Republic of Iran during wars or attacks on Israel by the groups it funds as an Axis of Resistance against the legitimacy of what it usually calls “the Zionist entity” or “the so-called country”. The regime has refused to allow its athletes to chance competing directly with Israeli representatives, a policy that has particularly limited Iranian women who are only permitted to participate in the few sports deemed modest enough by strict sharia law.
Promoted as a “historic collaboration between Israeli and Iranian filmmakers” (albeit expatriates), co-directors Iranian Zar Amir and Israeli Guy Nattiv, co-writers Nattiv and Iranian Elham Erfani, were inspired by Iranian women’s experiences at international sports meets (including boxer Sadaf Khadem who advised the filmmakers, climber Elnaz Rekabi, and taekwondo medalist Kimia Alizadeh). Presumably, this was filmed in black-and-white to heighten the documentary realism.
The Jewish Israeli competitor at a fictional World Judo Championship in Tbilisi, Georgia, “Shani Katz” (played by Lir Katz), barely has a cameo, but she looms over the tense plot, despite her friendly personal interchange with the central character, Iran’s competitor in her weight class “Leila Hosseini” (played by the riveting American actress Arienne Mandi). From the opening scenes traveling to the event, in flashbacks, and throughout the exhausting day, “Leila” is seen to have the strong support back home of her loving husband “Nader” (Ash Goldeh) for her athletic ambitions in judo. Her whole family has gathered to watch the tournament on national television.
Her coach “Maryam Ghanbari” (brilliantly portrayed by Zar Amir, whose star turn in Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, 2022, was condemned by Iran’s theocrats) at first just seems a tough advisor. (The sportscasters are genuine judo commentators whose explanations of moves are helpful.) However, as the one-on-one matches proceed on the tatami, the straw mat setting for each round, the Iranian national judo association sees the possibility that “Leila” may end up facing “Shani” as they work hard towards the finals. The coach starts getting more, and more insistent telephone calls, and passes on the instruction to the athlete she’s mentored who is seriously aiming for a gold medal: You are ordered to withdraw!
The pressure builds and their emotional disagreement is witnessed by tournament official “Stacey Travis” (played by Jamie Ray Newman, also a producer and Nattiv’s partner). The official warns the coach that her country can’t repeat excuses as they have at previous tournaments to avoid a particular opponent, which resonates with “Maryam”s own past in the sport.
What would be the built-in suspense enough of an international athletic competition within the very physical, tough matches (Mandi trained with Olympic athletes who appear in the film) ratchets up with the heavy-handed tactics of the all-controlling government. Tight editing viscerally brings the threats outside the tatami in the venue and against threatened family members at home back in Iran. The risks feel very real. Along with “Leila” the viewer can barely breathe.
Spoiler alert: Woman, Life, Freedom!
6/20/2025
Nora Lee Mandel is a member of New York Film Critics Online. Her reviews are counted in the Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter:
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My reviews have appeared on: FF2 Media; Film-Forward; Lilith, FilmFestivalTraveler; and, Alliance of Women Film Journalists and for Jewish film festivals. Shorter versions of my older reviews are at IMDb's comments, where non-English-language films are listed by their native titles.
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