NEW RELEASE
The Contestant
The story of Nasubi, challenged to be left naked in a room for a year, filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing, then broadcast live without his knowledge or consent.
Director: CLAIR TITLEY
Cast includes: Toshio Tsuchiya, Nasubi, Kazuko Hamatsu
90 MINS / 2023 / UK / ENGLISH
This British documentary tells the story of Tomoaki Hamatsu, better known as Nasubi ("Eggplant"), an unwitting Japanese reality TV star who accepts a challenge from a TV producer. He was to be locked in a room for more than a year, filling out magazine contest coupons in order to win what he needed to survive - food, clothing, appliances - until he reached the prize goal of one million yen. Although free to leave at any time, Nasubi is fiercely determined to complete the challenge and is cut off from the outside world, apart from occasional interactions with the show's producer. Without his knowledge or consent, Nasubi was being filmed and broadcast to a TV audience in excess of 15 million making him the most famous TV personality in Japan.
Titley's film captures the cruelty of reality TV and follows the star Tomoaki Hamatsu as he returns to the world to rebuild his life. All this, before The Truman Show, before Big Brother, before reality TV was a genre, as he starred in a 1998 Japanese reality TV show.
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