Ekiben (1999)

Name: Ekiben
Released: 1999-10-09
Duration: 1 h 48 min

Original title: 駅弁
Directed by: Shungo Kaji
Country: Japan
Runtime: 1h 48m
Rating: 7.5 of 10 from 2 voters
Elsewhere: IMDb

The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

How it feels

A fake documentary crew follows people in Japan's adult video industry. The film focuses on a performer known for a specific sexual position that is also the title of the movie.

mockumentarywrytongue-in-cheekdocumentary-stylemetaoddballdeadpanslice-of-life

What happens

Ekiben (Japanese: 駅弁), also known as Box Lunch, is a 1999 Japanese mock documentary film centering on the adult video (AV) industry which was written and directed by Shungo Kaji. Ekiben refers to a box lunch sold at train stations in Japan and it is also a slang term referring to a sexual position where the man remains standing while supporting the woman who faces him with her legs wrapped around his waist. This position is the "specialty" of the adult video actor Chocoball Mukai who appears in the film. The movie stars Shungo Kaji, Saki Shiratori and Chocoball Mukai. It was released theatrically in Japan as an R-15 film on October 9, 1999, by Hot Entertainment. The film was screened in February 2000 at the Berlin International Film Market (part of the Berlin International Film Festival) and in March 2000 at the NatFilm Festival in Denmark. Derek Elley, a critic for Variety, said the film could, with judicious editing and marketing, have a "brief specialized career." He called it inventive and funny, well-acted and observed, and also found Kaji's aspiration to be taken seriously as a director touching with "a curiously melancholic style of humor." The AllRovi entry described Ekiben as a "funny and oddly poignant film." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.