When I sat down to watch The Contestant, I anticipated an entertaining, perhaps quirky dive into Japan’s eccentric reality TV. Instead, I was met with a deeply human story that left me reflecting on vulnerability, resilience, and our collective fascination with spectacle.
At the heart of the film is Nasubi, a young man whose earnestness is almost painful to watch. Plucked from obscurity and thrust into a bizarre game show, he spends over a year isolated in a tiny apartment, tasked with surviving solely on the prizes he wins through mail-in sweepstakes. The premise is so absurd it borders on comical, until the film peels back the manic veneer of flashy graphics and sound effects to reveal a raw, haunting reality.
“He was this young, trusting, and incredibly naive guy, searching for connection through comedy,” explains Clair Titley, the director. “He thought he’d find it through the show and maybe went looking for it in the wrong way.”
Titley’s direction though is what makes The Contestant so remarkable. Growing up in Southeast Asia, she brings a nuanced understanding of cultural context to the story. Instead of mocking the spectacle or casting Nasubi as a tragic figure, she allows his experience to unfold organically. “I didn’t want this to be a point-and-laugh moment or a critique imposed from the outside, this is about how he coped and ultimately grew through the experience.” she shared.
Visually, the documentary is both inventive and intimate. The original archival footage — once saturated with over-the-top visuals, cartoonish sound effects, and canned laughter has been meticulously stripped down to its essence. “We wanted to convey the show’s energy to an international audience but also to show Nasubi as he really was: a man alone in a room with nothing,” Titley said. “We called the re-edited footage ‘fake rushes’ because we had to recreate a version where you could see him naked and isolated, as he truly would have been.”
This minimalist approach amplifies Nasubi’s isolation, driving home the central questions of the film: How far are we willing to go for entertainment? When does curiosity cross into cruelty? And what does it say about a society that allows such a show to thrive?
Yet, The Contestant is more than just a critique of reality TV. Titley deliberately avoided using a narrator to guide the audience’s interpretation. “I didn’t want someone telling viewers what to think,” she explained. “This isn’t a lecture about reality TV. The interesting stories lie in the nuance, in the grey areas. I wanted people to leave the film questioning their own relationship with social media, reality TV, and even the media itself.”
By letting Nasubi’s story breathe, the absence of a narrator invites audiences to form their own conclusions. Titley credits this approach to her experience growing up as an outsider. “I moved around a lot as a kid because of my dad’s military career,” she reflected. “That gave me a heightened awareness of cultural narratives—how Western storytelling can oversimplify things into good versus evil, while Asian narratives often embrace more nuance. I worked closely with Nasubi and our Japanese producer to ensure we avoided stereotypes or surface-level takes.”
Beyond its critique of spectacle, The Contestant is ultimately a story of redemption. After his ordeal, Nasubi found purpose through charity work, demonstrating the human spirit’s remarkable ability to endure and heal.
As our conversation wound down, I couldn’t resist asking about Titley’s future projects. “I love telling stories that seem wild on the surface but have a lot of heart and soul underneath,” she said. “I’m developing a couple of projects right now that fit that mold. They might seem crazy from the outside, but they’re grounded in human emotion. I can’t share more just yet, though.”
The Contestant is more than a documentary — it’s a mirror, reflecting how we consume media and the profound consequences for those on the other side of the screen. Nasubi’s story will stay with me for a long time, and I eagerly await whatever Clair Titley creates next.
Screening from November 29 – December 5
Chapter, Market Road, Canton, Cardiff CF5 1QE
https://www.chapter.org/whats-on/the-contestant-12a
Words by Sean Killen
