Sumo Do, Sumo Don't

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).