Name: Visitor Q
Release: 2001
Country: Japan
Director: Takashi Miike
Writer: Itaru Era
Actor(s): Kenichi Endo (Kiyoshi Yamazaki)
Shungicu Uchida (Keiko Yamazaki)
Kazushi Watanabe (Visitor Q)
If you have read any of my previous articles, you would know that I’m a massive Takashi Miike fan. I’ve been blown away with every film I’ve seen from this guy. When I saw Visitor Q I thought I would experience the same ‘blown away’ feeling I’ve experienced with all of his other films. Oh how bloody wrong I was!
The Plot
A troubled and perverted family find their lives intruded by a mysterious stranger who seems to help them find balance in their disturbing natures. The family is consists of a sexually deviant father, and abused mother, a bullied son and a daughter who prostitutes herself.
This film uses a dv camera, which gives the film an overall cheap look which, I guess makes it seem more real and therefore makes it seem more realistic. It was given a very low budget and it was filmed as the sixth and final part of the Love Cinema series (which I’m planning on watching all six for another article). The Love Cinema series consists of six straight-to-video releases by independent filmmakers. The six films were created as a low budget exercise (very similar to ABC’s of death). The films were created to show the benefits afforded by the low-cost Digital Video medium such as the increased mobility of the film and the low-lighting conditions available to the filmmakers.
The film begins with the title question ‘Have you ever done it with your Dad?’ and as soon as I saw that I thought ‘Christ here we go’, The film has everything in it, and I literally mean everything!! Incest, heroin use, necrophilia, unusually long nipples, it, has, EVERYTHING!! And what makes it even more difficult to view (for some) is that you get to see everything!! When the father begins pleasuring his own daughter, you get to see it!! All filmed with a video camera and blurred imagery. They’ve made it seem very very real which will make some uncomfortable viewing for some audience members.
The film has been described as a dark comedy, which, to be fair, I can see why. I may have had a chuckle or two when the daughter charged the father more because he came to quick and when the father and mother have their little killing session but I think I was more shocked by this film than anything. I hasn’t read any plot synopsis before pressing play so I didn’t know what I was expecting. I wasn’t expecting what I actually saw let’s put it that way. I’ve read reviews here and there on this film and a quite few have said that Battle Royale is a lot more shocking(!) however even though the concept of Battle Royale is insane and is probably more shocking, the imagery you see in Visitor Q makes Battle Royale and walk in the park filled with pretty flowers.
It’s a disturbing film and I felt slightly gros after watching it (I also deleted my Mac history, just in case). However, even though the film has vile content and such graphic imagery it’s also so bloody brilliant!! Why do you ask? Well, let’s put it this way, there has been no film, no matter how gory, has made me feel so repulsed in comparison to Visitor Q and that is a feat in itself. For a film to produce such strong emotion, whether it’s happiness, disgust and all inbetween, will always be considered a brilliant film. I’m glad I’ve seen it, but once was enough for me.
