Meeting in a blasted, barren wilderness, the hitman Shô is engaged by wealthy real estate agent Naka to track down his kidnapped lover, Sae. Naka shows him a poor quality film of the girl being beaten and assailed by a gang of four yakuza, which sets Shô out on a trail that brings him back into contact with the gang leader, Ko, who was responsible for the murder of his own girlfriend five years before. As he embarks on his quest through the dreamlike cityscapes of the late-60s Tokyo underworld for a fateful 3pm barroom rendezvous with his nemesis, Sho becomes increasingly unsure as to whether the girl really existed in the first place. Yamatoya’s wrote INFLATABLE SEX DOLL OF THE WASTELANDS concurrently with his anonymous contribution to the script for Suzuki Seijun’s legendary BRANDED TO KILL, released four months earlier. Similarly shot in stunning monochrome scope, it is as hallucinatory, fragmentary and surreal as its companion piece, and stands as a testament to just how flexible the pink film formula could be in its first decade. Biography Born in 1937, Yamatoya Atsushi joined the major studio Nikkatsu in 1962 as an assistant director before leaving in 1966 to work with the groundbreaking ‘eroduction’ company founded by producer-director Wakamatsu Kôji. He made his debut with SEASON OF BETRAYAL (Uragiri no kisetsu, 1966) and scripted a number of films for Wakamatsu Productions including BLACK NARCISSUS OF LUST (Jôyoku no kurozuisen, 1967), THE NOTORIOUS CONCUBINES (Kin pei bai, 1968) and VIOLENT VIRGIN (Shojo geba geba, 1969). As a director he made only four films. These include INFLATABLE SEX DOLL OF THE WASTELANDS (Kôya no dacchi waifu, 1967) for Kokuei and TRAPPED IN LUST (Aiyoku no wana, 1973), an independent production released by Nikkatsu as part of its erotic Roman Porno series. Both films deployed elements from BRANDED TO KILL (Koroshi no rakuin, 1967), the stylish hitman thriller he co-scripted with its director Suzuki Seijun. The film’s unorthodox approach led to Suzuki’s firing from Nikkatsu. Yamatoya collaborated on a number of Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno films, most significantly co-scripting WET SAND OF AUGUST (Hachigatsu no nureta suna, 1971), AUGUST IS THE SMELL OF EROS (Hachigatsu wa erosu no nioi, 1972) and SWEET SMELL OF EROS (Erosu wa amaki kaori, 1973) with the films’ director Fujita Toshiya. He also wrote screenplays for a number of Suzuki’s post-Nikkatsu films, including StTORY OF SORROW AND SADNESS (Hisshû monogatari, 1977); CAPONE CRIES A LOT (Kapone ôi ni naku, 1985) and the director’s sole work in the field of anime, LUPIN THE THIRD: THE GOLDEN LEGEND OF BABYLON (Rupan sansei: Babiron no ôgon densetsu, 1985). Yamatoya died of cancer of the oesophagus in 1993. Director Filmography (selected) SEASON OF BETRAYAL (Uragiri no kisetsu, 1966) INFLATABLE SEX DOLL OF THE WASTELANDS (Kôya no dacchi waifu, 1967) THE PISTOL THAT SPROUTED HAIR (Mô no haeta kenjû, 1968) TRAPPED IN LUST (Aiyoku no wana, 1973)