Available on VOD (including Amazon, Roxionow, iTunes, Vudu, Playstation, and Xbox) today, Tuesday, May 10: THE INVENTION OF DR NAKAMATS
Kaspar Astrup Schröder’s remarkably appealing film premiered at CPH:DOX in 2009, and went on to festival screenings at IDFA, True/False, Thessaloniki, Full Frame, Hot Docs, Planete, and elsewhere.
One of the most entertaining documentaries of the past few years, Schröder’s film reveals to the world one of Japan’s greatest resources: Dr Yoshiro NakaMats, the unlikely man behind 3,357 inventions, including the floppy disk. The eccentric octogenarian is a natural showman (you’ll be mimicking his catchphrase and hand signal before the end of the film, mark my words), making a perfect subject for this wonderfully absurdist doc. Viewers may wonder if the inventor takes himself completely seriously – he shows off both practical and outlandish inventions with equal gravitas – but there’s no denying his intelligence and think-way-outside-the-box problem solving. if the pleasure in watching NakaMats and his wacky inventions isn’t enough, the backdrop of the Japanese setting adds another important layer. My favorite sequence remains the preparations for the good doctor’s birthday celebration, an episode that captures the quirks of Japanese politeness and customs perfectly. THE INVENTION OF DR NAKAMATS is equally accessible to both documentary diehards and to those who wouldn’t normally gravitate to non-fiction.
what (not) to doc 