Definitely not what you would expect from the title, this wild 1967 Japanese cinematic noir-gorged fever dream from Atsushi Yamatoya, co-writer of Branded to Kill and colleague of Koji Wakamatsu. Usually cited as an early Pink film (largely thanks to the presence of star Noriko Tatsumi) but very much a product of the gritty, idiosyncratic crime films pouring out through the 1960s, this pushes both of those categories into challenging, bizarre territory that sometimes feels more like a violent take on Last Year at Marienbad.

Haunted by the murder of his girlfriend, disheveled hit man Shô (Minato) is hired during some desert target practice by a wealthy businessman, Naka (Nogami), to track down the men responsible for sending him harrowing videos of his own wife (Tatsumi) being sexually assaulted and presumably murdered. Since the trail seems to lead to the parties he's looking for himself, Shô accepts and falls down a rabbit hole of dizzying reversals and a tragic new love affair. That's pretty much it for the plot, which wanders among languorous sex scenes, female mannequins, nonchalant assassins, jazz music, and time manipulation in a way that will have you coming back for a second viewing.

Given its relative obscurity for years after it came out, Yamatoya's film has enjoyed a fairly robust home video history in recent years. A Japanese DVD (not English friendly) in so-so quality turned up in 2002, while the sole extant print was sourced for an HD scan released by Rapid Eye in Germany in 2019. That same scan was used in 2022 by U.K. label Third Window for its now quite scarce Pink Films Vol. 1 & 2 set paired with Gushing Prayer, a nice way to see it in full scope with English subtitles at the time. A far more opulent edition came in 2025 from Deaf Crocodile, with the usual standard or limited editions with the latter (1,500 units with a nice slipcase illustrated by Tony Stella) adding a 60-page book with essays by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas (about the emergence of snuff films and gender politics at play here), Walter Chaw (explaining the film's various title translations and its place in the Japanese New Wave), and Chris D. (focusing on the director and this film's connection to his other screenwriting and directing work), plus a thorough and very interesting new text interview with Kokuei Films' Keiko Sato. The film itself is sourced from the same print but has undergone a massive amount of restoration, looking remarkably good here compared to its predecessor and with virtually all of the debris, rough splice points, and other issues resolved here. Apart from a cigarette burn or two, it's virtually pristine now and looks great. In addition to the usual Japanese mono track (which sounds fine all things considered, with good optional English subtitles), you get a new commentary by Arne Venema and Mike Leeder covering the merits of this film among its peers at the time, the state of Japanese censorship which comes under fire here in one scene, the backgrounds of the few major actors here, and interpretations for the protagonist's behavior well worth considering. Also included is a very in-depth Zoom chat with film professor Alexander Zahlten (82m36s) conducted by Dennis Bartok about the history of the Pink film, the major players and difficulty pinning down the full history given that most are deceased, the relationship to the Roman Porno wave, and key titles and directors to explore. "Tomorrow Won't Be a Dream: Duality and Triangles in Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands" (13m4s) is a new video essay by Ryan Verrill and Dr. Will Dodson examining Japan's postwar history and its influence on this film with a preponderance of increasingly extreme films appearing with jittery studies in criminality and sexuality. A very unorthodox new trailer is also included.

DEAF CROCODILE

THIRD WINDOW

Reviewed on June 5, 2025