Campaign

This documentary on Kazuhiko Yamauchi, a Japanese businessman who is handpicked to run for a city-council seat despite having no political background, follows the Frederick Wiseman vérité template: no narration, keep your cameras rolling and stay out of the way. Viewers who don’t know the specifics of the country’s midlevel political landscape may find this slightly indecipherable, and the film’s pace is too often plodding. If nothing else, Campaign reminds us that the emphasis on PR tricks over substance (“Just say your name every three seconds”) isn’t relegated to our own elections.