MUBI is showcasing Atsushi Yamatoya’s film Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (1967), aka Dutch Wife in the Desert, and posted this absolutely incredible trailer/collection of clips from it and maybe other films produced by Keiki Sato. I have a solid collection of pinky violence films I watched over a period of time back in early 2017 and though I am into several other genres right now (peplum, and Soviet/iron curtain sci-fi), the MUBI post reignited an interest. (Late 2019 I revisited the genre after finding two films, from different series, that I was unable to find previously: Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams and Girl Boss: Revenge.)
- Pink film (pinku eiga) at Wikipedia, includes a section on pinky violence.
- Sukeban (delinquent girl boss) at Wikipedia, in Girl Boss: Revenge I have several links to the history of the girl boss genre along with a few pics 1970s/80s girl gangs that inspired it.
The pinky violence films are a subgenre or maybe just an adjacent genre of the pink films, and the pink films look somewhat more stylish and experimental, but still contain notable social commentary even if it’s wrapped in a prurient package.
- A Pink Tribute to Keiko Sato at Arsenal is a good resource for some of the history of the films.
- Is this the pinnacle of Japanese pink cinema? at Little White Lies provides a keen analysis of Inflatable Sex Doll based on the Blu-Ray release of last year (in Vol. 1 of the set) which was “remastered in 4K from the last remaining 35mm positive print.”
- BEHIND THE PINK CURTAIN Retrospective: Kan Mukai’s BLUE FILM WOMAN archived from a Twitch Film article, with a short analysis of the film.
- Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands at MUBI referenced by the above tweet.
The Blu-ray set comes in two packages with two discs each and are encoded for region B. I recently purchased a Blu-ray region free player (what an ordeal) after I picked up a Tarkovsky box set of seven films from Curzon, also region B. Region-free DVD players are easy to find but Blu-ray is a little more difficult. The player needs to have a different chip burned aftermarket and re-sold with region switching done manually from the remote control by clicking the yellow/blue/red buttons for A/B/C. I ordered from 220 Electronics and highly recommend. After two failed purchases elsewhere, where I was told the player was region-free but it was not, I called 220 and the employee gave me the lowdown on what has to happen.
From the set:
- Inflatable Sex Doll of the Wastelands (1967) [ IMDB | Wikipedia ] dir. Atsushi Yamatoya
- Gushing Prayer, A 15-Year-Old Prostitute (1971) [ IMDB ] dir. Masao Adachi and Haruhiko Arai
- Abnormal Family: Older Brother’s Bride (1984) [ IMDB | Wikipedia ] dir. Masayuki Suo
- Blue Film Woman (1969) [ IMDB | Wikipedia ] dir. Kan Mukai
Each has a different director and no common actors.
The Arsenal article above references Abnormal Family, Inflatable Sex Doll, and Gushing Prayer, along with several others (of hundreds and hundreds over the decades) that are definitely of the more salacious variety:
- Flesh Market (1962) [ IMDB ] dir. Satoru Kobayashi
- Valley of Lust (1963) [ IMDB ] dir. Seki Koji, from which the “pink” genre got its name:
In a 1963 review of this film for the Naigai Times, Minoru Murai coined the term “Pink film” by suggesting a “Pink Ribbon prize” should be awarded to these softcore erotic productions, which were known as “Eroductions” in the 1960s.
- Secret Acts Behind Walls (1965) [ IMDB ] dir. Koji Wakamatsu
- Sex Jack (1970) [ IMDB ] dir. Koji Wakamatsu
- Violated Angels (1967) [ IMDB ] dir. Koji Wakamatsu
- Moan of a Teenager (1965) [ IMDB ] dir. Kaoru Umezawa
The only image for the last film on IMDB is wonderfully reproduction-of-a-reproduction looking:
