‘Tatami’ Review: Guy Nattiv and ‘Holy Spider’ Star Zar Amir Ebrahimi Co-Direct Potent Political Sport Thriller
variety.comCatherine Bray Billed as the first feature film to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker, “Tatami” goes all in with a lean and tense narrative that is part sport movie, part political thriller — with both parts equally neatly realized.
Directed by Guy Nattiv and “Holy Spider” lead actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi (who also stars), from a screenplay by Nattiv and Elham Erfani, the film is set during the Judo World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, in which Iranian judo fighter Leila (Arienne Mandi) starts to perform better than anyone except perhaps her coach Maryam (Amir Ebrahimi) expected.
Leila’s success is a problem for the Iranian government since it means that she may go on to face an Israeli fighter in the final.
The regime sees it as humiliating for Iran to potentially lose to Israel, so decides to eliminate any possibility of this happening by ordering Leila to either withdraw under a pretext, or deliberately throw a less politically fraught match, before reaching that stage in the contest.
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