For most Americans, the name Nasubi doesn’t mean anything. However, his impact on the world of television is immeasurable. Hell, he’s most likely the reason the eggplant emoji is used as a penis in text messaging. Seriously. But the cause of his fame and cultural significance is nearly overshadowed by an incredible darkness. You see, Nasubi is a Japanese man who was stripped naked, imprisoned for almost a year alone in a small room, and forced to survive off scraps of dog food. From that description, you may believe he’s some prisoner of war. Instead, Nasubi was tortured for the entertainment of millions as a contestant on a Japanese game show. And in director Clair Titley’s shocking documentary, “The Contestant,” you bear witness to perhaps the most despicable television stunt ever to exist and how it drastically altered one man’s life.
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Nasubi grew up in the rural area of Fukushima, Japan, where he was given the name by kids in school who said his long face resembled an eggplant. (“Nasubi” is Japanese for eggplant.) The young boy was bullied all his life and embraced the nickname as a defense mechanism to make people laugh instead of the butt of the joke. This perfectly illustrates what type of man Nasbui was in 1999, as a young adult, when he decided to move to Tokyo and attempt a career in entertainment. His love of making people laugh would be his meal ticket, hopefully. However, his life was turned upside down when he won an audition (more like a lottery) to be the contestant in a mysterious game show called “A Life in Prizes.” 
Upon winning the opportunity, Nasbui was quite literally kidnapped and put in a small room by himself. He was asked to strip completely naked (producers used his namesake eggplant as a censor for his genitals) and recorded 24/7 as he sat in a room filling out postcards and entering magazine contests. He was told that the only things he would have to survive (including food) would be from his winnings in the sweepstakes. And Nasubi would only finish when he earned 1 million yen’s worth of prizes. Audiences marveled at the show, which existed well before “The Truman Show” or modern reality TV. They would get quick glimpses each week as the naked man danced when he won prizes and tried to keep himself entertained in solitary confinement. He became a household name. People loved him. But no one was truly aware of what Nasubi was experiencing.
Clair Titley’s “The Contestant” is a beautiful, heartbreaking, and distressing look at the lengths a Japanese TV producer would go to manipulate and exploit the hopes and dreams of one young, naive man. The film perfectly sets up the opposing views of “A Life in Prizes,” as it not only interviews Nasubi, who is incredibly vulnerable and forthcoming in describing the hardships he experienced, but the film also speaks extensively to Tsuchiya, the producer who is the one at the wheel, driving this poor man insane. The filmmaking helps illustrate the contentious relationship between Tsuchiya and Nasubi, as it shows the former in a cold, gray room and presents the latter in a warm, welcoming home. And often, when both men discuss one topic, the film goes split screen to illustrate, perhaps not subtly, how they are on opposing sides. 
But the power of the film is truly in the editing. The film is told primarily through interviews with Japanese folks and subtitles. However, Titley cleverly shows game show footage in a slightly re-engineered way, replacing the subtitles with a voiceover by Fred Armisen, allowing for English-speaking audiences to witness the show as it was initially presented. And how was it presented? As a comedy, of course. Tsuchiya and his army of employees cut out all the difficult moments that Nasubi experienced during his imprisonment and only showed audiences the funny bits. Not only was “A Life in Prizes” manipulating its star, but it was also using tricks to make the audience believe it was all fun and games.
Oh, but it wasn’t.
Using Nasbui’s words and descriptions of his mental state during production, “The Contestant” adds a horrific element to the game show footage. Whenever the audience laughs, or the hosts point out how silly Nasubi looks, you cringe, and your heart breaks. If you remove the game show element, it’s just footage of people laughing at a man suffering. It’s truly disgusting. Yet, it was one of the most popular shows in Japan during its run, and it significantly changed how reality shows were created after. 
Titley’s film isn’t torture porn, however. When you are ready to throw in the towel and write off humanity as a scourge, “The Contestant” shifts into something beautiful. You are reminded that even when humans can experience something painful and damaging, people can become something greater. Humans can be resilient. It takes immense strength, but there is hope that people can overcome even the worst circumstances. 
“The Contestant” is the type of documentary that sheds light on an impactful cultural moment and does so in a clever and thoughtful way. It doesn’t hurt that Titley’s film has one of the most likable subjects ever with Nasubi. 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. And after you watch it, you may not look at the eggplant emoji the same way again. [B+]
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