Written and directed by Clair Titley, a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing. Starring: Tomoaki Hamatsu, Jason Her, Toshio Tsuchiya and June Yoon.
If you weren’t convinced how wild television was in 1990s Japan, or even most countries, watch The Contestant and it will soon set you right. It’s an almost unbelievable cross section of comedy and cruelty. Every time you think you’ve reached the limit of crazy, this story has more to add. As time goes on it feels much less like reality TV and much more reminiscent of inhumane psychology experiments done in the 1960s and 1970s. It’s basically voluntary torture, so to watch Tomoaki Hamatsu (a.k.a. Nasubi), recount this horrific time is unsurprisingly fascinating.
Perhaps what could be both considered most surprising and least surprising is that the producer, Toshio Tsuchiya, who put Tomoaki Hamatsu through this ordeal shows no remorse whatsoever. He acted out of greed and insatiable urge for popularity and ego, ending up traumatizing this poor young man, and yet barely at all questions his actions. It’s frustrating to watch that he’s clearly revered and continually successful, despite his ridiculously questionable ethics and damaging behaviour.
It’s also difficult to watch at times because the length they go to in humiliating Hamatsu is shocking. Yet, what it really comes down to, behind all of its scandal and cruelty, is the power of the human spirit. Hamatsu is a fascinating man, after being thrown in a room for over a year, one which any film fan will connect to Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy in a manner of seconds, for him to have such resilience is remarkable.
The Contestant is simply one of those documentaries where the events are so unbelievable, that you need to see it to truly capture the craziness. With the exception of if you happened to be living in Japan in the 1990s, but even they might look back on it with horrified awe. Clair Titley did a fantastic job of capturing the struggle and trials Tomoaki Hamatsu went through. She hits a superb balance of the darkness and cruelty, while never going overboard and keeping the focus on Hamatsu’s perspective.
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