Ekiben (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Ekiben

| image =

| caption =

| director = Shungo Kaji

| producer = Shinsuke Kaji

| writer = Shungo Kaji

| starring = {{ubl|Shungo Kaji|Saki Shiratori}}

| music =

| cinematography = Koichi Ishii

| editing = Naoki Kaneko

| distributor = Hot Entertainment

| released = {{Film date|1999|10|9|Japan}}

| runtime = 108 minutes

| country = Japan

| language = Japanese

| budget =

}}

{{nihongo|Ekiben|駅弁|lead=yes}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.jslang.com/details.php?slangn=145|title=ekiben|publisher=[JSlang]|accessdate=2011-10-02|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425015152/http://www.jslang.com/details.php?slangn=145|archivedate=2012-04-25}} This position is the "specialty" of the adult video actor Chocoball Mukai who appears in the film.{{cite web|url=http://www.japanaddicted.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4735|title=Who needs a gym when you have Chocoball's 'station bento' sexercise workout?|publisher=[JapanAddicted]|accessdate=2008-10-25|date=April 17, 2008|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424031952/http://www.japanaddicted.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4735|archivedate=April 24, 2008}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=161831|title=駅弁(1999)|publisher=[AllCinema]|accessdate=2011-09-30|language=Japanese}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.kaji-world.net/home_e/works/ekiben/film.html|title=Film Festival|publisher=[www.kaji-world.net]|accessdate=2011-09-30}}

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."{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117915611?refcatid=31|title=Box lunch|publisher=[Variety]|accessdate=2011-09-24|last=Elley|first=Derek|date=April 16, 2000}} The AllRovi entry describes it as a "funny and oddly poignant film."{{cite web|url=http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/ekiben-v198472?r=allmovie |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720213157/http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/ekiben-v198472?r=allmovie |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-20 |title=Ekiben |publisher=[AllRovi] |accessdate=2011-09-24 }}