Little Miss Sumo

I saw this short documentary at the Philadelphia Film Festival and it was the best of the six they showed.

I liked "Little Miss Sumo" and it left me wanting more--to know more about this lady, more about women's amateur sumo AND the cultural taboos against women performing in the ring (which really wasn't addressed in the film). None of this is a serious complaint....more that I would have enjoyed seeing this story fleshed out into a full-length documentary instead of this short one. Well made...and probably more so to folks like me since I actually enjoy sumo and have even attending a tournament in Japan.

Little Miss Sumo follows a female sumo wrestler's life. It is genuine, and it is endearing.

The problem, like many minor sports, is the lack of institutional support for these athletes. It can happen, of course, to male sports as well. In this case, there is a well-established sumo institution for males, but not for females. So those who stick around run solely on passion for the sport. Despite these challenges, the athletes themselves are genuinely living their lives while training and traveling for tournaments, all without anyone paying attention to them. Such quiet tragedy.

Yet, this 19-minute documentary is but a glimpse. The harder questions of equal gender pay, equal opportunity, should discriminatory traditions (religions) be honored, should Japanese women be allowed to stand out... all these hard questions are only so delicately touched but never addressed. This documentary is not a show to talk out these issues, but just to show one person's life as a consequence of these bigger issues, which makes the show so delicate and genuine.

Get over yourself for this topic, the main lady here quickly grabs your heart and respect for her love for the sport. You really do feel for her.

The problem is that this documentary is just way too ridiculously short. It raises a number of interesting points but due to its length it just cuts them short. Even the big tournament felt like like a flash in the pan.

A lot of good to say but it felt like a trailer or highlights package. Time for a full length documentary on this. They deserve it. That would also be properly respectful to them just as they request.

I liked this one so much that I watched it several times. I have a new found respect for that sport and even more so for the women. I truly hope that they win over Japan and are allowed to compete professionally.

Amateurish.

The pun title spells it out, so there are no surprises. I watched it because I wanted to see the story. But there is no story. Only some footage gathered in a few vignettes. Is she fighting the system? Maybe in another documentary. For the time being she is fighting Russian women somewhere in Asia.