I was shocked when I realised that it was 2011 when Anuvahood was released, okay perhaps shocked is a strong word so Ill say that I was surprised that it has been 13 years since the Adam Deacon starring comedy arrived in the world. Its a film that I came late to (I saw it around 2014-2015) and a film that I haven’t seen since perhaps 2020-ish but its a film I enjoyed and its a film that I will be revisiting again soon.  Why am I mentioning a film that I haven’t seen for a few years in this article? Well Ill tell you. Last night I felt the need for 2 things. The 1st was a film that was less than 2 hours long, and the 2nd thing was that I needed something light hearted and perhaps funny.  So i popped in the DVD of 2023’s Sumotherhood, a follow up from 2011’s Anuvahood and settled down on the sofa.  Was my wish for those 2 things a success?  

Well the film was less than 2 hours long (it runs for just short of 100 minutes) and the 2nd thing, my need for something light hearted and perhaps funny- well – it wasn’t perhaps funny. Sumotherhood is the funniest film i’ve seen for quite a while.   Written, Directed and Starring Adam Deacon (also written by Michael Vu & Jazzie Zonzolo ), Sumotherhood tells the story of Riko and Kane (played by Adam Deacon and Jazzie Zonzolo) two friends who want the big life, money, success, women, respect! and well lets just say that these two friends aren’t exactly experts at rising up the criminal underworld. Straight from the start of the film where we are dropped into the middle of a less than successful business transaction the laughs arrive and even writing about that scene puts a smile on my face and Sumotherhood doesn’t let up with its rapid fire pace and scooped me up and carried me along for the rest of the film. The dialogue exchanges move along at the speed of a bullet in so many scenes, its definitely a film that youll want to revisit just in case you missed one of the zinger lines ‘you cant go picking up guns like you are in Woolworths in the pick n mix’ is one line that had me howling. Talk about dialogue in the right place, at the right time, said by the right character in a perfect delivery and for me this happened so many times in Sumotherhood.

I had a blast watching Sumotherhood and whilst I have been a fan of Adam Deacon’s work for a whole bunch of years (I first saw him in 2002’s Shooters and have since seen him in so many films over the years, and have bought a lot of films just because Adam was in them (such as Shank, Everywhere & Nowhere, Victim, Comedown, to name a few) Adams always watchable on screen but I have to say that Sumotherhood is some of his best work to date, its certainly his funniest. The comedic timing between Adam (as Riko) and Jazzie (as Kane) is comedy gold and I cant imagine how many takes were fluffed by people laughing their asses off during performances.  But its now just the two leads that will make you spit your tea out, the film is filled with so many faces you’ll recognise and who have great scenes. Its not secret that Ed Sheeran has a small role in the film and to say its a crazy one is an understatement. Its such a fun one though and I’m sure Ed had a lot of fun filming it. I know I had a lot of fun watching it. I wont spoil some of the other cameos in the film and there was one that made me think ‘erm what???’ (but I loved it and his line of dialogue made me chuckle’ 

The whole cast and crew get credit for delivering easily the funniest film I’ve seen for months, every character on screen was at the top of their game with their performances but I do want to focus on the one person who I think should get a bit more credit than the others for Sumotherhood and that is Adam Deacon. This is only his second feature as a writer & director (the other being Anuvahood) and watching Sumotherhood, this doesn’t seem like someone that has only written & directed one other film. Sumotherhood feels like a film that’s written & directed by someone that has doing it for years, If this is Adam’s second script, I cant wait to see what he does with his third, fourth, fifth and sixth. Whilst I have of course focused much on the comedy gold in the film, Sumotherhood isn’t shot like most other comedies. The camerawork looks like that of a drama (great cinematography by Simon Stolland) and when blended with the characters, scenes,story and comedy Sumotherhood looks and feels like a film on another level for me it worked wonderfully . I hope all that made sense. 

 All my writing in this article is my way of saying that if you need some laughs, want to watch a film that will most certainly entertain you, and allow you to spend some time with some of the maddest characters, then do treat yourself to a viewing of Sumotherhood. Of course with this being (a) a film, and (b) a comedy, Im sure there are people out there who will moan and complain about it not changing their lives after a viewing- for me though Sumotherhood worked wonderfully and gave me some much needed laughter and entertainment. Fingers crossed that we will see the return of these characters but hopefully it wont take 13 years.  Id love to see a box set someday called ‘The Anuvahood Trilogy’ and I know for one, it will be a set of films that will have a place on my shelf. Great work Adam and the rest of the Sumotherhood crew!