Italian Premiere | Out Of Competition
Reality TV has been force fed to the masses for decades, ranging from talent shows to The Bachelor to The Amazing Race, Top Chef, to countless “celebrity” series that follow D-grade stars like the Kardashians to more bronzed vapid fuckboys from Essex to Jersey Shore… but nothing takes the cake like Japanese reality programming, which takes it to the next level, to circles of Hell that are unassailable.
In 1998, Hamatsu Tomoaki, an aspiring Japanese comedian who became known as Nasubi, participated in a reality TV program. His Sisyphean challenge: to live alone in an apartment and subsist entirely off what he could win in magazine sweepstakes until he reaches 1 million yen in prizes. As days turn to weeks and months, the program, which is live-streamed, unbeknownst to Nasubi, grows popular, and the conditions take their toll on our hero. At the dawn of the internet age, this striking film forewarns the ethical concerns of reality entertainment in the 21st century.