Big in Japan

In 2013 three Melbourne lads, armed with a whole lot of ambition and a healthy dose of delusion, set out to make a documentary that didn’t make much sense. Their aim was to see if they could thrust one of their own into a culture that could not be any more different to the one they knew.

Big in Japan is a brand new documentary that follows local filmmaker and self-labelled “ordinary guy”, David Elliot-Jones, to Japan as he sets out on a shameless venture to become a celebrity overseas. The result is less of a trite take on internet fame than it is a surprisingly evocative sum of its tangents, where it deals with the darker aspects of being a foreign celebrity.

The film cleverly uses Dave as an anchor for its audience as it weaves through different versions of celebrity in Japan, though it becomes quickly apparent that most of the action is happening in the background, behind the protagonist.

The boys managed to secure some pretty big talent in the film, including Bob Sapp, best known in America as a professional football player and wrestler, who has become one of the most recognisable faces in Japan after appearing in hundreds of shows and commercials over the last decade.

It also features Adelaide-born Richard Magarey (better known as “Ladybeard”) who has reached an unprecedented level of fame in Tokyo, performing shows as a — no points for guessing —lady with a beard.

But what starts out as mostly comical interactions with these larger-than-life personalities gradually morphs into a deeper look at the people behind their characters: their motivations and what they’re running away from.

Big in Japan is heartfelt and earnest film that gets more and more charming as it unfolds.

Big in Japan
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