Groper Train: Search for the Black Pearl

It’s not all that surprising in Japan to find mainstream film directors carving themselves successful careers having learned their craft through Pink Cinema. Popular contemporaries such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Masayuki Suo both began to hone their skills in the mid-eighties working on soft-core erotica, as did Yojiro Takita, who this year deservedly won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film (a first for Japan) for Okuribito [Departures]. Takita had served as an A.D. throughout the seventies, eventually kick-starting his career in 1981. Working on the Chikan Densha series popularised by Shin-toho, Takita would direct no less than seven features of what would wind up more than thirty-strong (various production houses would also put out similar themed pictures), until the latter part of the decade in which he’d begin to set his sights elsewhere.


In 1934 a sole survivor of the Japanese Army Unit 69, discovered Zhang Zuolin’s black pearl ring: famed for causing the Manchurian Incident and starting a war between Japan and China. Whatever happened to it has since remained a mystery…until now. It so happens that Gohei Yamamori, now laying on his death bed fifty years later knows of its whereabouts. Drawing his last breath in an act of passion, as his wife Matsuko begs to know its location, he whispers “Pussy print”. Realizing that he must be referring to an old ink painting, she seeks the services of private detective Ippei Kuroda (Yukijiro Hotaru) and his assistant Hamako (Yuka Takemura), who have just seen a feature on television featuring The Great Writer Seicho Matsuki (Naoto Takenaka) regarding this 20th Century mystery. Armed only with the knowledge that the incomplete painting she presented him came from the vagina of Yamamori’s missing niece, Yoko, Kuroda takes it upon himself to search every train in the Tokyo area, hoping to identify her through some extensive hands-on research. The hunt is on!


Groper Train: Search for the Black Pearl is the 23rd film in the series and the sixth under Yojiro Takita’s helm. Subway train molestation might seem a rather outlandish premise for a feature, but it’s an all too real problem which still, despite stricter policing, affects a number of Japanese women who are often too afraid to report such incidents. While it would be nice to think that in light of recent times Takita is attempting to present his films as relevant commentaries on social perversions, it’s more likely that he, as with every other director on the series, is there to fulfil sleazy fantasies; especially given that the victims portrayed here seem to be enjoying themselves a fair bit in the process. Still part of a booming soft scene, Groper Train: Search for the Black Pearl naturally caters for the certain individual, and while there’s indeed no shortage of panty rummaging and “family bonding” to take up almost half the run time, Takita at least goes someway toward presenting it in an unusual fashion.

The film is notable then for its attempt at creating a mystery involving the whereabouts of a Chinese black pearl, fabricating a tale inspired by Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin. The idea of gathering ink prints from female genitals in stealthy fashion in order to piece together a treasure map is utterly ludicrous in itself - perhaps even perversely brilliant - but Takita rolls with it so as to provide a neverending supply of lowbrow/gross-out gags and scenes of mild titillation set to Yakety Sax style scoring. Away from these smutty adventures involving unsuspecting passengers, he takes us into the home of a son and step-mother, tightening the screws with yet more nudey antics and personal histories. The film unravels at a fast pace (again these flicks were little more than an hour in length), seeing it transform into a classic whodunit, whereby the mystery does eventually fall to the wayside. However, Takita does seem to be all too aware of his film’s rather predictable outcome - perhaps the reason as to why he directly addresses his audience via the breaking of the fourth wall and challenges them to solve it in the nick of time. Such a display of surrealism is one of several intriguing scenarios from the director, who is clearly eager to convey his humoristic qualities and Art House sensibilities, while also attempting to try and find new ways to get around the censors; some of his perspective shots are interesting to say the least, as he does his utmost to take us right inside the action…if you get my drift.

And it’s all perfectly fun for what it’s worth. We’ve a motley assortment of bumbling characters, from series veterans Yukijiro Hotaru and Yuka Takemura to Naoto Takenaka in one of his earliest roles. Almost unrecognisable as The Great Writer Seicho Matsuki, he’s unquestionably a huge reason to watch, showing him for his superb timing which would not only see him dominate Japanese television, but also enjoy many more scene-stealing turns under directors like Masayuki Suo, Takashi Miike and Shinobu Yaguchi, in addition to proving himself as a wonderful director in his own right. A firm favourite of mine, with a screen presence quite unlike anyone else.

The DVD

A/V

Pink Eiga’s presentation offers no real surprises. Presented non-progressively and non-anamorphically at approximately 1.85:1, with window boxing and hard-matted English subtitles, Groper Train is another average looking presentation. As I’ve mentioned before it’s a shame to see these 35mm films look so depressing, but these are the kind of tape sources being sent to the company for release. As expected some colours are quite drab, black levels are exceedingly poor, to the point of looking almost brown, contrast is high, and there’s an overall softness. This, like so many of Pink Eiga’s releases, ultimately comes down to its worth as an item of rarity. If you can get past some of its shortcomings it’s still a perfectly watchable disc.

Sound is of equal standing. There’s nothing here to particularly amaze. It’s a standard 2.0 mix, which despite one or two clarity issues presents its dialogue and music clear enough. These mainly appear to be age related problems and simply down to an obviously degraded source.

English subtitles are included, and as stated above they’re non-removable. I understand Pink Eiga’s reasoning for this, what with piracy being as prevalent as ever, but it’ll always remain a bone of contention for some, including myself, who prefer to see films in their original state. Having said that we’ve a solid translation, and I can’t say I picked up on any grammatical errors.

Extras

Riding the Groper Train: Mr. Pink Talks (7:02) features actor/director Yutaka Ikejima, who at the time of this interview was preparing his 109th film, proudly informing us that he’s the only Japanese director to have shot 100 films in the last twenty years. He shows us around the Shin-toho film vault which has stacks of posters, much to this collector’s excitement (though we don‘t see more than one). But he’s mainly here to explains in a bit more detail about “Groper Trains” and how these films depict the molesters as a kind of hero to some. He seems to lament that in 2009 there were no groper train films made. We won’t find out the answer why until a later DVD, but I’d suspect it’s because of a serious clamping down, which now sees woman given access to their own carriages. With that they’ll probably come up with a female groper series. Perhaps I shouldn’t really give them ideas.

The bonus materials start to thin out with biographies - although informative - for Yojiro Takita, actress Yuka Takemura and actors Yukijiro Hotaru and Naoto Takenaka. These are followed by a photo gallery, which is essentially a 1 minute montage of screen captures; a look at the original poster, and finally Pink Eiga’s international trailer for the film.

Overall

It’s always interesting to see how some director’s careers began, and in the case of Yojiro Takita, he made some staggering leaps. Looking back on his older work, it’s certainly crude, but there were promising signs even then. Groper Train: Search for the Black Pearl might only ever be mildly amusing, but it’s not without some artistic merit either. It’s certainly unusual, put it that way.