this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024
36 points (92.9% liked)

Movies and TV Shows

2072 readers
30 users here now

A community for entertainment industry news and general discussion about movies and TV shows.

Rules:

  1. Be civil.
  2. Please do not link to pirated content.
  3. No spoilers in the title of submissions. And please use spoiler MarkDown in the body of discussions. This is a courtesy to other users.
  4. Comments solely criticizing headlines and/or journalism will be removed for being off-topic.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
36
Documentary focuses on man behind a cruelly bizarre 1990s Japanese reality show (apnews.com)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

TOKYO (AP) — Naked and frail, a shaggy-haired man films himself as he endures solitude in a tiny room for months, and months more.

“The Contestant,” directed by Clair Titley, explores the story behind the late 1990s hit reality TV show from Japan, “A Life in Prizes,” in which a comedian nicknamed Nasubi is forced to survive on whatever he can redeem from mail-in coupons, as he is denied contact with the outside world.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2023 and will stream on Hulu from May 2.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

I remember hearing about this show ages ago on an episode of This American Life. Thanks for the heads up, this sounds like a good doc.