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Now Playing: TATAMI (2023)
I’ll go to the mat: there’s not a prizefighting film like it.
Raging judoka.
TATAMI (2023) Guy Nattiv & Zar Amir Ebrahimi / Writers: Guy Nattiv & Zar Amir Ebrahimi / Cinematographer: Todd Martin (in Glorious Black-and-White 1.33:1) / Design: Art Department: Ana Kalebashvili / Editor: Yuvall Orr / Composer: Dascha Dauenhauer / Acted by: Arienne Mandi, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Jaime Ray Newman, and Valeriu Andriuta / Countries of Origin: Georgia, USA, Britain, Israel (in English & Persian) / Distributor: XYZ Films / Not Rated / 105 mins.
Movies are a chancy business. What are the odds of two diametrically opposed features, each centered around female participants in combat sports (Queen of the Ring and now Tatami) opening within months of each other? That’s nothing compared to the chance to see the first movie to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker. Finally, any takers on what chance said picture was shot in black-and-white and in an aspect ratio that, with rare exceptions, died in 1954? I’ll go to the mat: there’s not a prizefighting film like it.
Video:
Trailer: TATAMI
We’re first introduced to the team of female judoka while they are en route from Iran to Georgia for the World Judo Championships. A long, wandering slow-pan comes to roost on Maryam Ghanbari (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), the team's coach. Seated alone, she has the entire driver’s side of the charter bus to herself.
The reasons for shooting in academy ratio and in black-and-white are pretty self-evident. Directors Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi wanted to take a contemporary, politically charged topic and film it in a manner befitting a gritty black-and-white film noir that’s been hibernating on a shelf in an Iranian film exchange for lo these many years. Cinematographer Todd Martin knows just the right focal length needed for a character to stand out in a group shot. The photography is so precise that were it not for a few minor modifications, it would look to date back to the early 1950s, when film noir was in full bloom.
Even the cliches seem fresh. Calls from the mysterious Mr. Tahiri with the Republic of Islam — today’s tough-guy answer to the old-school mafioso — include threats to harm the husband and children of the team’s star scrapper, Leila (Arienne Mandi), unless she throws the big fight. Will Leila risk the safety of her family and/or a shot at an Olympic Gold Medal on the whim of a thug? And the he intensity of Mandi’s performance had me half-expecting a vein to burst.
As a rule, politics and sports make for an odd pairing. Tatami has the art and heart needed to unite the two.
****
Playing June 27 to July 3 at The Digital Gym.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Now Playing: TATAMI (2023)
I’ll go to the mat: there’s not a prizefighting film like it.
Now Playing: TATAMI (2023)
I’ll go to the mat: there’s not a prizefighting film like it.
Raging judoka.
TATAMI (2023) Guy Nattiv & Zar Amir Ebrahimi / Writers: Guy Nattiv & Zar Amir Ebrahimi / Cinematographer: Todd Martin (in Glorious Black-and-White 1.33:1) / Design: Art Department: Ana Kalebashvili / Editor: Yuvall Orr / Composer: Dascha Dauenhauer / Acted by: Arienne Mandi, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Jaime Ray Newman, and Valeriu Andriuta / Countries of Origin: Georgia, USA, Britain, Israel (in English & Persian) / Distributor: XYZ Films / Not Rated / 105 mins.
Movies are a chancy business. What are the odds of two diametrically opposed features, each centered around female participants in combat sports (Queen of the Ring and now Tatami) opening within months of each other? That’s nothing compared to the chance to see the first movie to be co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker. Finally, any takers on what chance said picture was shot in black-and-white and in an aspect ratio that, with rare exceptions, died in 1954? I’ll go to the mat: there’s not a prizefighting film like it.
Video:
Trailer: TATAMI
We’re first introduced to the team of female judoka while they are en route from Iran to Georgia for the World Judo Championships. A long, wandering slow-pan comes to roost on Maryam Ghanbari (Zar Amir Ebrahimi), the team's coach. Seated alone, she has the entire driver’s side of the charter bus to herself.
The reasons for shooting in academy ratio and in black-and-white are pretty self-evident. Directors Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi wanted to take a contemporary, politically charged topic and film it in a manner befitting a gritty black-and-white film noir that’s been hibernating on a shelf in an Iranian film exchange for lo these many years. Cinematographer Todd Martin knows just the right focal length needed for a character to stand out in a group shot. The photography is so precise that were it not for a few minor modifications, it would look to date back to the early 1950s, when film noir was in full bloom.
Even the cliches seem fresh. Calls from the mysterious Mr. Tahiri with the Republic of Islam — today’s tough-guy answer to the old-school mafioso — include threats to harm the husband and children of the team’s star scrapper, Leila (Arienne Mandi), unless she throws the big fight. Will Leila risk the safety of her family and/or a shot at an Olympic Gold Medal on the whim of a thug? And the he intensity of Mandi’s performance had me half-expecting a vein to burst.
As a rule, politics and sports make for an odd pairing. Tatami has the art and heart needed to unite the two.
****
Playing June 27 to July 3 at The Digital Gym.
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