There are many good films released around the world every year. Masterpiece celebrates the best of the very best: genuinely superb works of cinema that come with FictionMachine‘s very highest recommendation. If we had our own Criterion Collection, these are the films we would want it to include.

Sumo, the widely known form of traditional Japanese wrestling, gets the comedic treatment in Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t, a 1992 comedy written and directed by Masayuki Suo. You’ve probably heard of it – not only was the film a sizeable arthouse hit in English language territories, it was also a mammoth popular hit in Japan. It ultimately won five Japanese Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Masahiro Motoki and Best Supporting Actor for Naoto Takenada. It deserved every one.

University undergraduate Shuhei Yamamoto is keen to escape his studies to a prestigious job arranged through family connections. All he needs to graduate is the sign-off from one professor. Unfortunately that professor’s sign-off comes with one condition: Shuhei must join the university sumo club, which has so few members it is threatened with closure. Soon Shuhei and a group of four other unlikely wrestlers are fighting in the ring for the honour of the
club.

Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t belongs to that particular sub-genre of amiable comedy, in which a group of disparate and unlikely individuals band together and achieve something wonderful. It’s a style of film that includes The Full Monty, The Commitments and more than a few decent teen comedies. As with the best films of this style, Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t gives each of the film’s protagonists their own storyline, and devotes a balanced amount of time to developing each character. Masahiro Motoki plays Shuhei as a driven, deadpan young man, serious and increasingly passionate as the film goes on. He provides an essential and strong focus to the film – we encounter everybody else through him, and he acts as our eyes and ears in exploring the world and rituals of sumo.

Naoto Takenada is hilarious as Aoki, the sumo club’s one pre-existing member. He is an unusual, idiosyncratic character: on the one hand ruthlessly devoted to the traditions and reputation of sumo, and on the other so anxious about his in-the-ring performance he’s come down with a bowel disorder.

Ritsuko Umemoto plays Masako Mamiya, a female student with romantic desires towards one member of the team, and a strong will to join the club and help manage the wrestlers. Masako is a heavily overweight young woman, and when she is first introduced there is a slight worry the film is going to indulge in some unpleasant mockery of the character. Such worries are unfounded. This is a film that, while following a very traditional – almost formulaic – storyline, never resorts to short-changing its characters, or making them the subject of ridicule. It’s one of the film’s strongest assets.

Another asset is the film’s very Japanese sense of restraint. You may be surprised at where some of the storylines conclude. A romantic plot thread might not end in a kiss, but rather the expectation of one some time after the cameras have stopped rolling. Like all good movies, this film knows when enough is enough, and stops each time before over-egging the pudding.

Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t is a heartwarming film, but also a carefully restrained one. It successfully combines the story and tone of many English language comedies with the meditative long takes and static camera work that is typical of Japanese cinema. Are there better-made movies? Definitely. Are their funnier ones? Certainly. Are there many movies that combine such strong characters, a solid narrative and warm, earthy humour? Unlikely. Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t is a rare treasure, and a pinnacle of its genre.