A screenshot from Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes (TIFF)

“Whatever you do, don’t get naked,” a mother asked of her son, Tomoaki “Nasubi” Hamatsu, as he left his hometown of Fukushima for Tokyo to pursue a career in entertainment and comedy. Little did she know how prescient her request would be. Born in 1975, Nasubi was often teased and bullied as a kid for his long-shaped face, which gave him his nickname (“Eggplant”). Nasubi learned to protect himself by making fun of his looks and entertaining others. Claire Titley’s documentary ultimately feels somewhat incomplete as a portrait of Nasubi, though it thoroughly explores its subject through the lens of the Japanese television phenomenon that he winds up starring in.

After moving to Tokyo in early adulthood, Nasubi is cast on a 1998 reality TV show, Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes. Here, Nasubi is in solitary confinement in a small space, with no clothes, a little kitchen, and sparse furniture. He must survive solely from prizes won by entering magazine sweepstakes. Once his prizes total one million yen, he wins the game. Footage from what would end up being a near year-long isolation is edited down for weekly airings, with quirky text splashed onscreen, music, laugh tracks and sound effects, and goofy visual gags: a cartoon eggplant covers up his private parts—a harbinger of a now ubiquitous emoji. The show becomes a hit, prompting producer Toshio Tsuchiya to install a live webcam of Nasubi for viewers as well. Malnourished, Nasubi is luckily able to at least win some rice, and even a live lobster. (No one in the documentary really confirms how rigged the show was, but given the craftiness of its production, it was likely heavily manipulated).

The offbeat premise hatched by Tsuchiya would become a global template of reality competition shows to come: from the starvation elements of Survivor to the live, 24-hour voyeuristic streams of Big Brother. Coincidentally, Peter Weir’s The Truman Show would be released in 1998 as well. Though Nasubi is aware he is on TV, he did not sign a contract, and is completely unaware of the show’s impact and how much footage is shown to audiences. Depressed, and longing for the outside world throughout, he writes diaries, which also, unbeknownst to him, become bestsellers.

The documentary’s most arresting figure ends up being Tsuchiya, who finds that, at a base level, “all humans are entertaining.” The footage of his program is compelling, especially the finale before a live studio audience—an unscrupulous masterclass in creating an effective reality show spectacle. Tsuchiya’s creation is an ethical mess that he is still unabashedly proud of. Nasubi initially looks up to the producer before being cast, but in retrospect, feels as if he is a “devil.”

There is enough subject matter here for a fascinating documentary, with moral gray lines to mull over. But the film detours, skirting over the immediate aftermath of Nasubi’s celebrity, subsequent depression, and his difficulties integrating back into society. It jumps over a significant portion of time to the 2011 tsunami disaster in Japan when Nasubi appears to be taking ownership of his own story through acts of altruism in the disaster’s wake. Additionally, in 2015, he helps with rescue efforts in Nepal after an avalanche. This section feels strangely glossed over and uninvolving, perhaps because the film is so mired in the bizarre details of Denpa Shonen. When Nasubi reaches the peak of Mt. Everest in 2016, the documentary forces a heroic narrative upon its subject that doesn’t quite gel. Still, like the captive audience he held at one time, it’s hard not to cheer Nasubi on.