Review by Mabkid

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.