Tatami

2023

Drama / Sport / Thriller

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 83% · 6 reviews
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 1365 1.4K

Plot summary

Iranian female judokas Leila and her coach Maryam, travel to the Judo World Championship, intent on bringing home Iran’s first gold medal. Midway through the Judo World Championships, they receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic ordering Leila to fake an injury and lose, or she will be branded a traitor of the state. With her own and her family’s freedom at stake, Leila is faced with an impossible choice: comply with the Iranian regime as her coach Maryam implores her to do, or fight on, for the gold.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
September 10, 2024 at 11:48 AM

Top cast

Jaime Ray Newman as Stacey Travis
Nadine Marshall as Jean Claire Abriel
Arienne Mandi as Leila Hosseini
Zahra Amir Ebrahimi as Maryam Ghanbari
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB
954.71 MB
1280*958
Persian 2.0
NR
us  
24 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 19
1.92 GB
1440*1078
Persian 5.1
NR
us  
24 fps
1 hr 43 min
Seeds 53

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Teyss 9 / 10

More than Sport and Politics: Thriller and Emotions

What makes 'Tatami' so captivating? It is an efficient thriller and intimately connects us with the main character.

A THRILLER SHOT LIKE A TRAGEDY

The movie follows the rules of classic tragedy:

  • Unity of time: all actions occur in less than 24 hours, except the epilogue a year later and the flashbacks of course;
  • Unity of space: the plot is mainly located in the Dojo of the World Championships. When we see the family in Iran, they are interacting by phone with Leila on site, with very few exceptions;
  • Unity of action: the two stories, namely the competition and pressure from the regime, are closely intertwined.


The use of black and white increases the sense of classical format and tragedy, the former being enhanced by the "old" aspect ratio of 1.33 to 1, which is closer to a square than the more common 1.85 or 2.40. Overall it looks more like a film noir than a sports feature.

The action follows a downward slope where characters are increasingly threatened and unable to avoid their fate, as in a nightmare. The happy end is only relative: granted, Maryam, Leila and her son eventually live in France, yet we don't know what happened to Leila's husband and parents, as well as Maryam's mother. In the penultimate scene, both women are in a bus as they were in the first scene, a gripping loop since it seems nothing has changed whilst everything has. They look at each other and only vaguely smile: a bittersweet ending.

To increase the dramatic atmosphere, the movie deliberately aims for efficiency rather than accuracy as it takes many liberties with Judo standards. As such, it is not a film about Judo: sport is a background to the thriller.-
  • The World Judo Association (WJA) does not exist, it is the International Judo Federation (IJF). Senior officials would not get involved so directly and at such short notice.-
  • No Judo World Championships were ever staged in Tbilisi, where the film was shot: the actual environment (Dojo and streets of the city) is more important than historical accuracy.-
  • The IJF does not allow wearing a hijab (headscarf) on the tatami for safety reasons, contrarily to some national or regional organisations; wearing a bonnet has occasionally been tolerated. This is bypassed by the movie in order to illustrate the clothing norms imposed to Iranian women: it provides a general dimension to the specific plot.-
  • The rhythm of the competition is on the fast side. The World Championships are indeed held in one day for each weight category, with a maximum of 6 combats from round of 64 to the final. However they spread over hours to allow Judokas to recover from the effort and potential wounds, whilst the movie action almost seems to be in real time.-
  • The fights are purposefully dramatized. Some techniques are practically unseen at this level, for instance Tomoe Nage for those who know Judo (the "attacker" falls on her back and projects the opponent over her), which a world-class Judoka could easily counter.-
  • The Iranian federation and pundits react much too quickly to Leila's success: they intervene at the beginning of the competition, whilst it is absolutely not certain she will face the Israeli Judoka in the final. Actually related instructions would have been given ahead of the competition, but this would not have enabled the dramatic build-up.


AN INTIMATE CONNECTION

Most of all, we intimately share the main character's experience.-
  • The image is generally dark with many shadows, echoing the feelings of the two main characters. The backgrounds are especially sombre, illustrating the looming threats.-
  • Most of the action occurs inside and when it does not, exterior scenes are obscure: the overall sensation is claustrophobic and oppressive.-
  • The above-mentioned narrow format of 1.33 increases this feeling of confinement.-
  • The grain of the film is rather thick, as opposed to the usual smooth texture nowadays. It is as if we were touching the rugged Judogi uniform (improperly called "kimono") worn by the athletes, feeling the dense atmosphere, smelling the sweaty environment.-
  • The fights are frequently shown close or very close, with fast camera movements and quick editing: we are on the tatami with Leila.-
  • There are subjective shots where we see through Leila's eyes, for instance when her vision is blurred in the last combat.-
  • All flashbacks are related to Leila: we visualise them with her. Some are intimate: a nude scene in bed with her husband, a sweet scene with her son in his bed. We follow her train of thoughts: the photograph flashes before a round evoke a powerful scene where she dances with her husband, among stroboscopic lights in a clandestine club (since her hair is loose).-


The movie depicts the emancipation of Leila who refuses to submit herself, removes her hijab in the last round and defects. Interestingly, she becomes an example for Maryam who, after complying, supports her, confesses to unduly forfeiting the 1988 Olympics and also defects: a reversed situation since Maryam has always been a model for Leila.

The plot is not strictly based on real facts: it is a compilation and dramatization of existing incidents. According to the diaspora site 'Radio Farda', the directors mentioned the following references:
  • Saeid Mollaei, an Iranian male Judoka who was ordered to lose during the 2019 World Championships to avoid facing an Israeli in the final;
  • Elnaz Rekabi, an Iranian female climber who appeared without hijab during the 2022 Asian Championships;
  • Kimia Alizadeh, an Iranian female taekwondo athlete, who defected in 2020.


These events are condensed in the story of Leila. For memo the boycott of Israeli athletes is not specific to Iran or Judo; in Judo alone there were recently e.g. Fethi Nourine (Algerian) and Mohamed Abdalarasool (Sudanese) during the 2021 Olympics, as well as Messaoud Driss (Algerian) during the 2024 Olympics. Leila's exile also echoes co-director Zar Amir Ebrahimi's who plays the role of the coach Maryam and who was forced to leave Iran in 2008.

In summary, 'Tatami' is a compelling thriller with political, ethical and personal insights. It appropriately embodies the present repression by the Iranian regime of all its citizens, notably women. Ironically this oppression is not even efficient: the Israeli Judoka who could have faced Leila in the final eventually loses in semi-final. Hence if Leila had not been stressed by threats, she would have been more focused, could have passed the quarter-final stage, have won a medal for Iran and would not have defected. Note the final twist: in the ultimate scene, Leila as part of the Refugees Team faces an Iranian Judoka. Repression has turned against itself.

Reviewed by Sillyreviews 8 / 10

A battle

Tatami is a film that feels special.

Tatami is about an Iranian judoka that participates in world champion ship in Tbilisi, Georgia. As she comes further into the competition the Iranian government becomes worried that she might need to fight against an Israeli judoka. This forms a challenge for her does she choose her sport and passion or her country and safety.

As the film started I noticed immediately that it was in black and white (which is hard not to notice I must admit), i was scared for the film about this choice. A film can thrive in the simpleness that black and white brings but can also destroy it if the story isn't strong enough. For Tatami it thankfully it was the first, the black and white made the story the centre in the film. Making you not distracted by anything else and keeping you in a hold that judoka would perform on you. It kept you on your toes as you were constantly wondering what would happen next. It helped that the whole story basically took place on one day, making it not drawn out.

The acting was good but could be better. The acting felt a bit over acted at times which made you lose your attention, from what was happening.

In the end I would highly recommend this film to anyone. You will regret it if you don't watch this political personal drama.

8.

Reviewed by MehdiTaba 8 / 10

A strong political protest film!

Tatami is a film mainly about boycotts of Israel in sports, Iran's regime attitude towards controlling everything, exactly as its nature is, an Islamic totalitarian regime, women's rights, feminism and fighting for freedom.

It is the first experience of Zar Amir as a director of a feature film. A film and idea shaped by Guy Nattiv, he made it as a collaboration as a step-by-step approach, it wasn't planned at the beginning and they did a great job.

I love this film, it's a powerful, strong, inspiring, poignant, to the point, sad, dark, eloquent, progressive, entertaining, courageous, moving, touching, exciting, "shocking" and interesting film.

I think it was a good choice for being shot/edited in monochrome, it gave a dark and sad tone to the story which was needed and made it more tangible for foreign audience who may think it is just an another sports drama. Sometimes colours can entertain and be distracting and stop us from seeing the centre of the plot.

The Iran's regime, the IRI, is trying to control its people and brainwash masses, what we need is such films that speak about it and shine a light on such dark subjects. I hope such films could be seen in Iran more widely.

Zar Amir is doing great lately, I will keep an eye on her works definitely. She is trying to be the voice for the voiceless and she is doing it in a great way.

Good direction. Great screenplay. Good production. Very good acting. Very good edits. Good film score. Very good audio mixing/editing. Good cinematography. Great tone. Well-paced. Well-balanced.

By the way, it was a family-friendly film, there was just a brief kissing scene in bed and partial nudity. Mostly in Persian but it was in English for about 20%.

8.2/10.

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