‘I’m Late’, An Insightful Documentary On Unplanned Pregnancy

As the world continues to mark International Women’s Day this March, LEADERSHIP Lifestyle reviews the Four ‘Animating Women’ short documentaries made available to the global audience on YouTube by Japanese media organisation Miyu Production to mark the occasion.

The first up for review is Sawako Kabuki’s ‘I’m Late’ (2005). The 10 minutes 36 seconds animated short documentary is an insightful piece on unplanned pregnancy, or a ‘pregnancy scare’.

‘I’m Late’ not only highlights society’s view of life and sex, but also the different mentality between the opposite sexes.

Through a little less than a dozen interviews of both males and females, one realises that people engage in the sexual act basically for self-pleasure (without protection) with little thought of the fact that the resulting impact is an innocent child.

Thus, a good number of young people interviewed in the documentary admit to panicking when they got a pregnancy scare. While both sexes contend with not being ready when confronted with the experience, the male perspectives were quite interesting.

While one young man said he would be upset if he hadn’t loved his girlfriend so much, another said he would wonder if he were the father. Yet another noted abortion as an option if they didn’t have the means to take care of the baby. And the most arrogant response came from a male who asked, “Who is using condom each time they have sex?” Yet he admitted to knocking up three women – as a high schooler, college student and an adult, and getting abortions all through.

Conversely, the women’s response to the pregnancy scare was more emotional. It ranged from not being ready to raise another human being, to being scared of their parents’ reactions, or simply preferring to wish away the physical pain, bleeding and embarrassment of being ‘stained’ at inconvenient times by their period.

Perhaps the more heart-tugging part of the documentary is the protagonist (whom this piece will refer to as the pink lady). She, due to overwork, lost her child as a stillborn. Viewers are never told if she was married, but when her period was late again, it was confirmed that she was pregnant.

Her initial reaction was shock, and as she said, “once you are pregnant, there is no going back”. Viewers watch her try to reconcile her emotions about being a mother. It wasn’t joy. They simply see her going through all the processes of pregnancy and childbirth, with pain, tears and uncertainty. It wasn’t until childbirth that they saw her cry again and welcome her baby into her hands. But her reflection afterwards on what it’s like to be a mother for the first time is powerful.

She said, “My first impression after giving birth? I think making love and discovering one’s own body is a beautiful thing. We often make love just for pleasure. But it can create a baby in the mother’s belly. As soon as the placenta is out, you can breastfeed. And the mother’s milk contains all the nutrients the baby needs. And the baby already has all its vital functions. It’s amazing”.

Her response affirms a woman’s strength. Women should be proud and happy with themselves regardless of whether they didn’t meet some societal standard of success. You are enough just being you, being able to create and give life to another human being.

While ‘I’m Late’ addresses themes such as pregnancy, abortion, its overarching and visually projected theme of the wonder and power that is the female body and its ability to give life via something or a process that also brings pain, is commendable.

Released in 2025, ‘I’m Late’ won the Grand Prize at the Experimental Film Category of the Rhode Island International Film Festival. It is written and animated by Sawako Kabuki and produced by Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron, and Nabuki Doi.