is a 1999 Japanese mock documentary film centering on the adult video (AV) industry which was written and directed by Shungo Kaji

Shungo Kaji

is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, producer and company executive active primarily in the adult video field.-Nikkatsu & Hot Entertainment:...

. 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

Chocoball Mukai

Hiroshi "Chocoball" Mukai is a Japanese male pornographic actor and a former professional wrestler.-Life and career:...

 who appears in the film.

Plot

The first half of the film has real-life adult video (AV) director and company executive Shungo Kaji

Shungo Kaji

is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, producer and company executive active primarily in the adult video field.-Nikkatsu & Hot Entertainment:...

 reminiscing about his days as a film student at the Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

 studio surreptitiously watching the filming of the studio's Roman Porno series and then discoursing on the mechanics and problems of making and producing adult videos. The second half is a fictional depiction of the discovery and grooming by Kaji of a young AV starlet Saki (played by pink film actress Saki Shiratori).

Cast

• Shungo Kaji
  Shungo Kaji
  is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, producer and company executive active primarily in the adult video field.-Nikkatsu & Hot Entertainment:...
  
  
• Saki Shiratori
• Chocoball Mukai
  Chocoball Mukai
  Hiroshi "Chocoball" Mukai is a Japanese male pornographic actor and a former professional wrestler.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Masahiro Nakai
• Susumu Kenzaki
• Masahiro Tabuchi

Critical appraisal

The critic for Variety says the film could, with judicious editing and marketing, have a "brief specialized career." He calls it inventive and funny, well acted and observed and he finds Kaji's aspiration to be taken seriously as a director touching with "a curiously melancholic style of humor." The AllRovi entry describes it as a "funny and oddly poignant film."

Release

Ekiben was released theatrically in Japan as an R-15 film on October 9, 1999 by Hot Entertainment

Hot Entertainment

is a Japanese adult video production company which has its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan and specializes in works featuring amateur actresses in "reality" videos.-Company information:...

. The film was screened in February 2000 at the Berlin International Film Market (part of the Berlin International Film Festival

Berlin International Film Festival

The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...

 and in March 2000 at the NatFilm Festival

NatFilm Festival

The NatFilm Festival, staged annually across 16 cinemas in Copenhagen, in addition to several in Odense, Aalborg and Århus, shows the widest programme of films to the largest festival audience in Denmark...

in Denmark. It came out in DVD format in Japan on January 15, 2002.