Visitor Q (2001) Bizita Q

Movie Rating R Contains: Strong Language Violence Graphic Violence Gore Sex Nudity Mature Situations

Director: Takashi Miike Movie Genre: Comedy, Black Comedy Country: Japan Visitor Q Score Card The following scores are based on a 0.0 to 10.0 rating scale Hover your mouse pointer over the name of each scoring category below for a description Direction: 7.0 Writing: 5.0 Acting: 6.0 Cinematography: 7.0 Sound and Score: 5.0 Functionality: 7.0 Presentation: 6.8 Genre Comparison: 8.0 General Comparison: 6.8 Overall: 6.5 Reviewed 2006-03-21 19:00:06

Takashi Miike's Visitor Q is one of the most shocking and most offensive movies ever made. The story is about an extremely dysfunctional family and their experiences with a strange man known only to them as "the visitor". The movie opens with Kiyoshi Yamazaki, played wonderfully by Kenichi Endo, as he is about to have sex with his prostitute daughter Miki. On his way home from the motel, the visitor ambushes Kiyoshi and hits him on the head with a large rock. Somehow, this assault serves as an introduction and the visitor temporarily moves in with the Yamazakis.

Miike shot this movie on digital video. The camerawork gives this movie an uncomfortable level of realism, making it seem more like a documentary than a work of fiction. Miike does not make his opinions of the on screen depravity known. Instead, he nonchalantly displays this material, leaving all reactions to the audience. This also adds to the documentary feel of the movie.

The theme of bullying plays a large part in this movie. Kiyoshi lost his credibility as a journalist after an on camera encounter with a group of bullies. At school, his classmates are constantly bullying Kiyoshi's son Takuya. He copes with this by beating and pimping out his heroin-addicted mother. The visitor introduces himself to people by hitting them on the head, and even the audience is bullied with one disturbing scene after another.

This movie also serves as one of the best examples of Miike's recurring theme of rebirth through destruction. The visitor's initial intent upon arriving at the Yamazaki residence is to tear this family apart. He soon realizes that the Yamazakis are on the verge of meltdown. His efforts act as a catalyst that makes the Yamazakis realize that the only way they can live a normal life is by accepting and embracing their many psychoses and dysfunctions. This realization comes about in one of the most disgusting, most insane climaxes ever committed to film.

With all of its disgusting imagery and disturbing subject matter, Visitor Q is not for everybody; however, underneath all of the excess, there lies an effective black comedy. If one can become acclimated to the onslaught of filth displayed, the humor underneath all of the subject matter shines through. The only way to see the comedy in this movie is to refuse to be pushed around by Takashi Miike.