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Releasing on May 2, 2024
- 2024
- Hulu
- 1 h 30 m
- 2024
- Hulu
- 1 h 30 m
Summary 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.
Directed By: Clair Titley
Written By: Clair Titley
- 2024
- Hulu
- 1 h 30 m
- 2024
- Hulu
- 1 h 30 m
The Contestant
69
User Score
User reviews are not available yet
Summary 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.
Directed By: Clair Titley
Written By: Clair Titley
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
69
80% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
20% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 5 Critic Reviews
69
80% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
20% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Yes, the film is about a game show in the late-’90s that went to cruel levels in the name of entertainment, but The Contestant truly showcases the power of human resilience.
The Contestant wants you to be entertained and it wants you to feel bad about being entertained. It pretty much succeeds on both counts.
The details are so hypnotically sadistic that Titley’s documentary is seldom bothered to deviate from them, as none of the film’s retrospective interviews, candid and thoughtful as they are, prove as gripping as the raw video of Nasubi’s ordeal.
The Contestant outs the Japanese reality show as a pioneering work of manipulative heartlessness, happy to put Nasubi through the ringer for ratings and, also, for spectators eager to chuckle at his mistreatment (and marvel at his cooperation in it).
The Contestant is a missed opportunity. It’s a documentary about voyeurism that, in the absence of freshly delivered insight, just reintroduces and rehashes the voyeuristic impulse it’s largely condemning.
User Reviews
tbd
Production Company
Misfits Entertainment
Release Date May 2, 2024
Duration 1 h 30 m
Genres
Awards
Camden International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Miami Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Cleveland International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
