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The Contestant

Play trailer 1:37 Poster for The Contestant 2023 1h 30m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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92% Tomatometer 50 Reviews 82% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week.
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The Contestant

The Contestant

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Critics Consensus

A transfixing depiction of abject cruelty, The Contestant raises a series of thought-provoking questions about human behavior, even if it leaves most of them largely unexplored.

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Critics Reviews

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James Jackson The Times (UK) The Contestant, Clair Titley’s thoughtful, troubling film shown in the Storyville strand, took us back to the mad world of 1990s Tokyo TV, except this time you won’t have laughed once unless you really are a sadist. Rated: 3/5 Jun 17, 2025 Full Review Barney Nuttall Little White Lies Any wider commentary on reality television or stardom, not that much is attempted, is subsumed by the brutality of Asubi’s nightmare, leaving the viewer to shoulder his burden with no sign of reprieve. Rated: 3/5 Dec 11, 2024 Full Review Peter Bradshaw Guardian The film tries to make this a heartwarming Hollywood redemption, but it’s not particularly compelling or convincing, and there’s no real discussion of this pop-culture Stanford Experiment. Rated: 2/5 Nov 26, 2024 Full Review Stephen A. Russell Orion's Shoulder (Substack) Disturbing stuff, there’s hope, still, in his spirited recovery. Dec 31, 2024 Full Review Josh Saunders The Sun (UK) EVER felt sorry for the fame-hungry stars of Love Island, Big Brother or I’m A Celebrity? Well, that feeling will be banished forever after watching documentary The Contestant... Rated: 4/5 Dec 3, 2024 Full Review Nathaniel Muir AIPT The story itself is interesting enough; the film just should have tried to explore the deeper and more disturbing questions behind what people will do for fame. Nov 30, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member A disquieting and immersive reflection on one of the most extreme social experiments ever to take place, where one man’s hardship and isolation is contrived ad nauseam to push the limits of TV sans regard for the inhumanity it took, ultimately accenting the star-turned-victim’s superhuman endurance in defiance of his fellow man’s equal capacity for cruelty & compassion. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/24/24 Full Review Lars N More a horror film than anything else. Every time the audience laughs it send shivers down my spine. Sure it's a fascinating story but it lacks severely in any kind of hard question aimed at the people who tormented this guy for no apparent reason. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 09/22/24 Full Review Audience Member Absolutely insane what this guy did, and he still wasn't a multi-millionaire. In America, if someone did this he would have sued the living heck out of the show. Or he would have won a million dollars each time he stayed in the room and completed each task. But I get it, this was way before The Real World, and this was the first reality TV game show in history. And it was in Japan, where they do this kind of crazy stuff all the time. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/31/24 Full Review Brad O A fascinating look into how low and how high a human can go. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/16/24 Full Review Audience Member A fantastic documentary showing the limits of physiological torment a person can go through. An Absolute MUST SEE film, Nasubi is an inspiration! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/11/24 Full Review Gareth D A really fascinating look at both how exploitative the reality TV genre is (with this being one of the first of it's type) and how resilient humans are. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/02/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The Contestant

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Cast & Crew

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Clair Titley

Director

Fred Armisen

Narrator

Takehiro Hira

Narrator

Tomoaki Hamatsu

Self

Toshio Tsuchiya

Self

Clair Titley

Writer

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The Contestant

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The Contestant

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Movie Info

Synopsis The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV to over 17 million viewers a week.
Director
Clair Titley
Producer
Andee Ryder, Ian Bonhôte, Megumi Inman
Screenwriter
Clair Titley
Distributor
Hulu
Production Co
Misfits Entertainment
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 2, 2024
Runtime
1h 30m
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