Critics reviews

[Tatami] is both a riveting story of an athlete trying to achieve gold for the first time, and a searing political thriller... Vibrantly helmed and performed... the film is a win both behind and in front of the camera.

Nattiv and Amir Ebrahimi do a fantastic job of showcasing how complex situations drawn from issues of social and political justice can power straightforwardly exciting genre cinema. The film works well as a pure sports movie.

[Tatami] transforms an initially straightforward scenario into an increasingly tense, involving drama... an effective addition to the ranks of films dealing with the pressures on athletes caught in the crosshairs of international politics.

Tatami is an edgy addition to the female sports sub-genre... an intelligent and striking action thriller that once again highlights a repressive religious regime that particularly punishes women.

One more screenplay draft would have probably fixed the issues that keep Tatami from being the truly powerful film it clearly wants to be. The political and human message rings loud and clear, and true, but the taut thriller doesn’t quite get it across organically.