Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (1967)

A business man hires a hitman named Sho to take revenge on the gang that kidnapped his girlfriend six months ago, raped her on camera and occasionally call him up to let him listen to her being raped again. Sho demonstrates his skill with a gun to the client's satisfaction, and agrees to an appointment with the gang at 3pm the following day.

It turns out Sho has a history with one of the gang himself - his former partner Ko, whom Sho has been tracking for 5 years since he raped and murdered Sho's girlfriend and then disappeared.

There seems to have been quite a lot of competition in late 60's Japan when it comes to imaginative film names, but the likes of Go, Go Second Time Virgin and FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES must take a bow to INFLATABLE SEX DOLL OF THE WASTE LANDS... whose Japanese name apparently translates more literally to the equally wonderful DUTCH WIFE IN THE DESERT (I have questions, Japan).

It was also a time of experimentation and radicalism in Japanese film, and screenwriter Atsushi Yamatoya's directorial debut is firmly in that tradition. The structure is perplexing and non-linear, with peculiar cutaways to events that may or may not have actually happened. The enthusiastic free jazz soundtrack perhaps conveys what the intention was behind the film's avant garde structure and disregard for narrative coherency.

The film features quite a few sex scenes, mostly non-consensual, and with some overt gun = penis symbolism. The gang apparently runs a brothel where women in various fetish outfits are drugged so that they are as lifeless as the inflatable sex dolls of the title... though this is only revealed in the film's epilogue. There's probably some symbolism in that too.

I wasn't enjoying the film much for most of the runtime, I found it pretentious and dull despite some very striking cinematography. A surprise twist towards the end made me smile and belatedly won me over a little bit, though.

Still not really my cup of tea - I must admit I could never understand what people see in BRANDED TO KILL (which was written by Yamatoya) either.

Great title though.