The Invention of Dr. Nakamats

Dr. Nakamatsu is an elderly, eccentric, egotistical Japanese inventor; although his egoism is filtered though a modest demeanour. He is apparently responsible for a staggering range of inventions, including the floppy disc, although the one's we see in this film following him for a period of his life seem mostly bizarre - an engine that allegedly runs on water, a mysterious sex-aid, a push-up bra. He believes he will live till 140; and the problem with this film is that it makes it easy to dismiss the man as a crank. Indeed, one might even wonder if the protagonist is playing up to the camera at times. What one might have liked to have seen was some explanation of the thought process behind his more successful inventions - instead, we get the process of how he comes to think of ideas (starving his brain of oxygen, supposedly) - but none of the actual reasoning. By focusing on the quirkiness of the doctor, the film fails to convey his genius - and I was even tempted, at times, to wonder if the whole film was not a kind of low-key spoof. Assuming it isn't, there's some interest here; but less than if it had taken its subject more seriously.

I have to totally disagree with paul2001sw-1 about this movie. The protagonist of this documentary is well-known as a self-promoting "inventor" who claims to have created a plethora of everyday devices including the floppy disk (it was actually invented by IBM). He makes NUMEROUS claims in the movie which can be independently verified to be lies. I will not detail them here (as this is a movie review) but suffice it to say you would be wise to Wikipedia a person before writing a review of a movie based on them.

The movie: The people who made this movie clearly know what they are doing. By filming often and by letting the characters fill the silence they have managed to lull their subject into a sense that the movie is being made *because* of his greatness. However, through clever editing of a rich collection of source material, a more honest picture of this shameless self-promoter comes to light. His delusions of grandeur are perhaps what has made him his fortunes, but those delusions have created a man who is so disconnected from reality that you start to feel sorry for him - especially during the scene where his family give him a birthday present, after which he demands the director shoot another take because the first one wasn't to his liking. Thankfully the director has included BOTH takes.

Most definitely an interesting man and interesting subject matter, but not one who deserves to be taken seriously after making so many preposterous false claims. I cannot recommend this documentary enough and suggest that you find the time to watch it.

Nakamats is considered one of the five most important inventors of the last millenium. He did patent the first floppy disk, although it didn't look anything like the IBM model, and he sold a bunch of his patents to IBM thereafter! His water using car is absolutely viable and has been buried by the major oil companies ever since it was patented for obvious reasons.

I'm not saying it's easy to accurately portray someone that looks a bit... insane... I'm just saying clearly this movie didn't try very hard. Not all geniuses are loveable, altruistic, souls. Look at Steve Jobs! He was no saint but no one could say he was an airhead.

This PT Barnum/Donald Trump of a fellow is still one of the greatest minds of our time. The movie ripped him to shreds.

I saw this back in 2009 on Channel Four in the UK. It was fascinating. The guy is clearly something special and he loves it!! Hey why not his inventions have changed the world. I've been trying to find the doco on Blu-ray and can't find it anywhere.

**EDIT* I have eventually found it to buy on Vimeo- would recommend.