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Documentary focuses on man behind a cruelly bizarre 1990s Japanese reality show

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. Tomoaki Hamatsu — whose nickname “Nasubi,” meaning eggplant in Japanese, refers jokingly to his long chin — never manages to clothe himself and remains naked throughout the show. What makes her documentary more than a just-for-laughs, big-in-Japan satire are the interviews Titley conducts with Hamatsu’s mother, sister and friend, who express outrage, sorrow, pride and a mix of other emotions as the show grew into a prime-time hit.

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