'The Contestant' Review: Hulu's documentary shines light on Nasubi's spine-chilling experience
TOKYO, JAPAN: 'The Contestant' is streaming on Hulu from May 2, 2024. The documentary tells the story of Tomoaki Hamatsu better known to the world as Nasubi. The documentary looks back at the time when Nasubi took part in a show called 'Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes' which required him to stay in a room naked for 15 months.
Nasubi's infamy was a boon for the producers of the show who recorded his activities and showed them to the world gaining a record viewership for the show. Helming this show was Japanese TV producer Toshio Tsuchiya, who has also been interviewed for this documentary.
The documentary made by Clair Titley is an earnest attempt at understanding the mental health of Nasubi and the impact of the show on him after all these years. The documentary was selected at TIFF and nominated at other festivals too. Here's our review of the film.
Nasubi's mental health in focus in 'The Contestant'
The makers of the documentary have built their narrative around his mental health and how it deteriorated progressively in the room where he spent 15 months.
The documentary also raises valid questions regarding consent and the cost of superstardom which Nasubi achieved during the time he was in isolation.
'The Contestant' doesn't necessarily re-tell events like many modern documentaries do with the help of creative visualization but presents facts and opinions from everyone involved and leaves judgments up to its audiences.
The narrative does work negatively in a way that it is extremely verbose and you hear a lot of talking but in Nasubi's case, the audience must hear everything from the people who were involved.
Technical perfection elevates the documentary
This documentary is technically executed to perfection. From the audio to the visuals, everything has been done with the motive of bringing unfiltered accounts from everyone involved with the reality show and Nasubi's life.
The documentary even stays true to the aspect ratio and the visuals of the reality show are not expanded to suit the 16:9 experience that the viewers are used to.
One does feel the need for more background music in the documentary though and maybe filming a couple of scenes with the narrative could have broken the monotony of people speaking incessantly.
Clair Titley's earnest documentary about Nasubi is excellent
Director Clair Titley crafts an earnest documentary that sculpts into the mind of its subject and says a lot through layered subtext. The documentary needs to be seen as a well-researched case study of the human mind.
'The Contestant' is a serious piece of cinema meant to raise important questions in the minds of its audience rather than asking them in the film. This is a refreshing change from the ubiquitous contemporary documentary filming style.
'The Contestant' trailer
'The Contestant' is streaming on Hulu from May 2, 2024