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‘The Contestant’ Review: The Perils of Reality TV Laid Bare in Hulu’s Documentary
'The Contestant' on Hulu looks at the aftermath of the 1980s Japanese reality show that was a forerunner of 'The Truman Show.'
Denpa Shōnen.” Starting with six-minute segments of Nasubi’s life, the broadcast eventually evolved into an early, round-the-clock live-streaming event in the vein of Peter Weir’s “The Truman Show,” which the challenge pre-dates by several months, but which makes for a fitting comparison on several fronts. However, just when it seems like the movie may simply be a condensed re-telling with occasional external context, it drops a bombshell revelation halfway through its runtime — revealed much the same way Nasubi experienced this twist in the show’s format, with no prior knowledge or set up — that induces nauseating whiplash. Titley consistently anchors her unfolding chronicle to the kind of backstage emotional truths often hidden from the audience, and in the process, she crafts something halfway between sensationalist exposé and intimate confessional — a remedy to reality TV based on its own format — co-authored by her subjects.
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