Film Movement: First Look at New 4K Restoration of Sumo Do, Sumo Don't

Film Movement has provided a promotional trailer for the recent 4K restoration of Masayuki Suo's Sumo Do, Sumo Don't (1992), starring Masahiro Motoki, Misa Shimizu, Naoto Takenaka, Akira Emoto, and Hiromasa Taguchi. A Blu-ray release of the restoration is scheduled to arrive on the market later this year.

Description: College student Shuhei (Masahiro Motoki, Departures) finds out he is lacking a few credits for graduation. His crafty professor, a sumo enthusiast, says he'll let it slip if Shuhei joins the school team and competes in the regional university tournament. Shuhei begrudgingly joins the team, which includes one member, the eccentric repeat student Aoki, and the pretty club manager Natsuko. They are soon joined by a ragtag group of new members including an outspoken British exchange student and a tough overweight coed. Everyone seems driven by ulterior motives at first. Yet as their trials and tribulations see them grow though hilariously outrageous shenanigans, so too does the team cultivate a winning spirit for the traditional Japanese pastime.

Sumo Do, Sumo Don't finds director Masayuki Suo (Shall We Dance?) refining his themes and motifs in this "fully entertaining, sometimes laugh out loud movie about sports underdogs who rise to success" (Japan On Film).