Pink Eiga: Groper Train 'Search for the Black Pearl' and 'Wedding Capriccio'

During the Halloween weekend last Fall I was taking the subway home when a gaggle of young females came onto our car. Displaying their immense cleverness and creativity their costumes for whichever party was going on in whatever part of town at whomever's house consisted entirely of miniskirts and tactfully placed kitten ears, devil horns or sailing hats on their heads. And while watching young females mix their own drinks, by taking shots of Diet Pepsi and Rum and shaking their heads, may pass to some as entertainment I was more amused watching the young Asian gentlemen nervously clutching his bag in his seat between these future frat party casualties. Sitting rigid (I'll say!!!) and with his eyes firmly planted on the floor in front of him he did not budge an inch. No matter who sat on whose lap, whoever's hat got knocked off onto the floor and picked it up without bending at the knees, whoever said they were starting to feel drunk, it did not matter. I commend his discipline and fortitude for he stayed the course and did not move until his stop came. Then I'm sure he texted all his friends and posted the events on his facebook page. Oh wait. That last bit was me. I tell you this story as lead in to this... train cars on any transit system can be a honey trap!
Any lover or admirer of Japanese film knows that some prominent film directors cut their teeth in the sub genre of erotic film or pinku film. Kiyoshi Kurosawa is probably the most talked about of those directors on these pages but when Yojiro Takita took home the Oscar last year for his film Departures his involvement in pink eiga was quickly mentioned. During the 80s in fact he did quite well for himself and Shintoho and Nikkatsu studios directing a few of the Molester Train films. Pink Eiga has picked up and released two of those films, Groper Train: The Search for the Black Pearl and Groper Train: Wedding Capriccio, back in November and January respectively. Rodney has already written a lengthy exposition about three of Takita's titles (no word yet if Ninja Time Slip will be released) so I'll kindly direct you over there as well.

Search for the Black Pearl: In 1934, the world's largest black pearl disappears. Years later, Gohei, a dying war veteran claims to know the whereabouts of the coveted jewel. With his last breath, he utters the words "pussy print" to his wife Matsuko -- and the mystery is on! Unable to crack the mystery alone, Matsuko enlists the help of the world famous detective, Ippei Kuroda, to decipher the cryptic message and track down the black pearl. However, when the investigation proves to be too complicated for even the talented Ippei to handle, the famous mystery writer Seicho Matsuki gets involved. The search turns into an all out free-for-all as each party sets its sights on the legendary black pearl. Who will find it first?

Parts comedic slapstick and softcore eroticism, the delight in Takita's Groper films, other than the obvious, is the downright silliness of the story. It is almost maddening how quickly screenwriter Isao Takagi's story jumps from scenes of erotic pleasure to comedic episodes involving Ippei in a train car attempting to get... well... prints of women's erogenous areas... with ink and paper. It is a printing process that would make Johannes Gutenberg either blush, giggle, or curse for the missed opportunity.

As the quest for the Black Pearl continues things get deadly and the many bodies that were entwined in thoughtfully captured lovemaking throughout the film start dropping. For real. If you have a part in this film you're definitely going to get some and chances are you might end up dead by the end of it. Get it while the getting is good. Once the Black Pearl has been found and stolen it is up to Ippei and his assistant undergo rigorous exercises that will, ahem, cough, tighten up those muscles needed to get the Black Pearl back, which the thief has mounted on a ring. They'll do it on the Groper Train. Off the ring. Gee. I wonder how. There are fewer prouder moments for physical prosthetic makers in the film industry than this one here.

Wedding Capriccio: The world's greatest detective, Ippei Kuroda, is back and this time hired by a politician to find his estranged daughter before he passes. When the daughter is found  but later dies, the mystery deepens. Who will inherit this former politician's great fortune? Meanwhile, Kuroda's assistant tries to stop her arranged marriage to a hick by shacking-up with a composer who writes symphonies on his calculator -- when he's not groping women on the Tokyo trains!

Delving once again into territory that combines the erotic with the silly screenwriter Isao Takagi knows what he needs to bring to the table. Lots of sex and lots of silly antics with Kuroda. As it would appear if you're cast in a Groper Train film and you're not getting some from someone else in the cast then what's the point? And if you're Kuroda and you have a mystery to solve the first place you have to look for clues is of course on the commuter trains. At first he needs to find the daughter of this politician. The only clue he has is that she has a diamond filling on one of her back teeth. So Kuroda has to look in the mouths of as many women as he can and the only way you can really do that, is dress up like a doctor and perform 'physical inspections' of women on trains until they open their mouths in ecstasy and he can look for that diamond filling. But once she turns up and dies shortly after Kuroda now must uncover a new mystery. Who is in line for the family fortune and what are they willing to do to get it?

The combination of Takagi's screenplays and Takita's filmmaking skills at least make for entertaining films. Takita can be praised for making a film that looks good apart from having a bounty of naked Japanese women in it. Some will argue that pornography is still pornography no matter how tastefully it is done. Yes, Takita has done that. The sexual scenes often imply the act and a carefully placed hand or shadow [curse you hands and shadows] remove the need of mosaics that permeate throughout all, if not most, of the hardcore Japanese pornographic films coming out. And it's nice to watch two people enjoy each other's company without hearing them yell at each like curling skips or pointing out the obvious to the viewer. So if pornography can be tastefully done I imagine it would look something like this. Whether they need to be this entertaining as well is subjective to the viewer. But if you're looking to 'lend a hand to the unemployed' and you want to watch some 'normal sex' for a change consider the Groper Train films.

When no Groper Train film was made in Japan in 2009 an era was seemingly coming to an end. Just searching Groper Train by its Japanese name, Chikan Densha, over at IMDB yields about 3 dozen titles. So apparently there is cause for concern amongst pinku directors like Yutaka Ikejima: who was interviewed by Pink Eiga for their Groper Train releases, starred in Groper Train: Wedding Capriccio amongst other titles released by the American based pinku label, and directed many of his own pinku films. But, as culture changes so does what is considered acceptable behaviour on a Japanese commuter train. As each generation of Japanese women grow to be strong minded and willed and the demand for Women Only or Men Only train cars grows to cut down on the number of incidents of groping during commutes thus the demand for fantasy films depicting such actions die down. But females beware because a company is Japan, according to Ikejima at the time of his interview, is trying to start a series of Groper Spa films.