TOKYO (AP) — Naked and weak, a shaggy-haired man films himself as he endures months of loneliness in a small room.
Directed by Clair Titley, ‘The Contestant’ explores the story behind the popular late 1990s reality TV show from Japan, ‘A Life in Prizes’, in which a comedian nicknamed Nasubi is forced to survive with everything he has. can redeem via mail-in. discount vouchers, because he is denied contact with the outside world.
The film premiered on the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 and will stream on Hulu starting May 2.
Tomoaki Hamatsu – whose nickname ‘Nasubi’, which means eggplant in Japanese, jokingly refers to his long chin – never manages to dress himself and remains naked throughout the show. But he dances to celebrate the things he does get, especially food, even if it’s just a jar of kimchi.
Canada’s National Post, in a review of Titley’s documentary, described the TV show as ‘The Truman Show’ meets ‘OldBoy’, referring to the 1998 American film starring Jim Carrey, about a man who unwittingly plays the lead role in a reality TV program about his father. own life and the 2003 Cannes-winning Korean film about an imprisoned man.
British director Titley said she chanced upon the reality show and contacted Nasubi because she felt no one had ever told his side of the story.
“I felt like they were quite dismissive and to some extent even derogatory about, you know, look at those crazy Japanese people. And I really wanted to know Nasubi’s story. I really wanted to know what happened to him, why he stayed there,” she said in a recent Zoom interview with The Associated Press.
What makes her documentary more than a laugh-out-loud Japanese satire are Titley’s interviews with Hamatsu’s mother, sister and friend, which express outrage, sadness, pride and a mix of other emotions as the show grew. a primetime hit. They said they felt sorry for what he had to endure, including his nakedness.
The film also explores Hamatsu’s childhood experience of being bullied for his long chin and how he started laughing to protect himself.
Hamatsu says the hardest part of the show was the loneliness, although being without clothes and very little food for a year and three months also took its toll. The comedian was moved to tears when he received a standing ovation at a screening of the documentary in New York.
“I feel like I was able to convey a positive message through the documentary,” he said.
‘The Contestant’ raises serious questions about how far society could go in entertainment, and the large audience and money it represents.
The show’s producer said in the documentary that he just wanted to “capture the moment” and did not object to the show’s production.
“I think we are all complicit in these stories to some extent. I think that’s something to take into account. It’s very easy to step back and look at all of this and think, ‘Oh, look what those producers did.’ But you know, as viewers we have to take some responsibility,” Titley said.
The film explores the different emotions that come with being stuck in different ways, including relationships, hardship, or simply feelings of meaninglessness.
Hamatsu is from Fukushima in northeastern Japan, which was hit by the Triple disaster of March 2011when a gigantic tsunami followed a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and destroyed the coastlinewhich caused the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Hamatsu, who still works as an actor, also devotes his time to film reconstruction of Fukushima and raising awareness about the region.
“I want everyone to know that the people of Fukushima are working hard,” he said.
“Life is gradually returning to what it used to be in the exclusion zones. Of course I realize the road to it dismantling of nuclear power stations is still a long battle. But I would like people to get to know the Fukushima of today, to feel hope by visiting Fukushima and seeing how Fukushima is being rebuilt.”
As a kind of vindication at the end of the documentary, Hamatsu becomes a climber and conquers Mount Everest, a feat he dedicates to Fukushima.
Many people think the famous show from 25 years ago was the highlight of Hamatsu’s life, since he isn’t on TV much anymore, he said.
“But it’s the exact opposite. That was the worst point in my life. I overcame that. And now I’m free to do whatever I want.”
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Yuri Kageyama is on X https://twitter.com/yurikageyama