“The Contestant” Spotlights Reality TV At Its Most Unreal

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 22 October 2024 16:19

Written by Avi Ezor

The Opening Night film of DOC NYC 2023 was The Contestant, a documentary about what I believe to genuinely be the most horrifying story to ever come out of reality television. If it isn’t, it’s certainly up there.

Fittingly, for a festival themed around real life stories on screen, this documentary is a fascinating and shocking look at how an ordinary man’s quest for fame went in a direction he could never have imagined. Some of you may know this story, but you haven’t heard it told like this. For the ones who don’t, you are not prepared.

All Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu wanted was to be loved. Bullied over his looks growing up, he used humor as a defense mechanism, and aspired to be a comedian. So, in 1998, when he won the chance to be on the popular Japanese reality series Susunu! Denpa Shonen, he was elated. However, that enthusiasm was short-lived, as he soon found himself in a small apartment and stripped naked, for a segment entitled “A Life in Prizes.”

His challenge? To live off of nothing but sweepstakes winnings gained from the magazine rack in the apartment. This even included food. The challenge would end once he obtained One million yen worth of prizes. The resulting footage, he was told, would later be edited for use on the show once the challenge was completed. The door was also unlocked, so he could end the challenge at any time.

Nevertheless, Nasubi agreed, and began his bizarre challenge, keeping a diary along the way. However, as days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, the isolation started to drive him mad. What kept him going was determination, acceptance of his situation, and the possibility of TV fame. As it turned out, he ended up achieving the last one before too long, because the entire challenge was being aired on Denpa Shonen without his knowledge, to a weekly audience of tens of millions.

This story has been recounted numerous times online, but I haven’t seen anything with the amount of access that this documentary had. Featuring interviews with practically everyone involved, and a startling wealth of archival material, it’s about as in-depth as something like this will get. The footage of Denpa Shonen is genuinely harrowing, and honestly, hard to watch. Nasubi’s descent into madness is accompanied by frequent audience laughter, colorful graphics, and a comedic narration (which the filmmakers have had dubbed over with English language narration by Fred Armisen). It’s almost dystopian in its cruelty.

Equally fascinating and shocking are the interviews with series producer Toshio Tsuchiya, who comes across as a sort of twisted mastermind determined to not only make TV history, but unlock something about human nature. I’d compare him to Christof from The Truman Show, except, as the British production points out, this actually predated the film’s release by a few months.

There’s a lot that this documentary could’ve said about how this predicted the ethical issues of reality TV’s meteoric rise, social media, and viral fame, and I felt that more could’ve been said. However, as director Claire Titley said at the Q&A following the film’s screening, that wasn’t the story she wanted to tell.

Ultimately, this film is about connection, and it closes on a genuinely heartfelt note, showing how Nasubi used his celebrity to do something good. It’s also just as stranger-than-fiction as the rest of the film with a positive ending that I think is rare for a film like this. Ultimately, this is Nasubi’s story more than it’s about reality TV as a whole.

When the film ended and Nasubi came out on stage, the audience gave him a standing ovation that brought him to tears, and he graciously bowed to us. I could think of no better way to end the night or highlight the DOC NYC festival. The Contestant is a must-see for fans of insane media stories and is now streaming on Hulu.