Visitor Q Reviews

Strangest Miike yet...

Without a doubt, this is the strangest Miike film to date...Mid-way between the high-camp farce of 'Happiness of the Katakuris' and the twisted S&M madness of 'Ichii the Killer', it hits at every taboo imaginable. At times the humour verges on slapstick - the father, having just raped and strangled a co-worker, preparing to dismember her body in, of all places, a completely glass-walled greenhouse - at others, it is so dark it's painful to watch - the son beating his mother, and her tears as she attempts to cover up the resulting scars all over her body - this is a Japanese Mike Leigh on acid...Miike, in many of his films, seems to capture a twisted hysteria lurking at the heart of Japanese society, a society where cannibal killers become celebrities, and where a hegemony of abuse is simply an accepted part of life, amongst school children and adults, and from the cradle to the grave...Many of Miike's films seem to reflect on the immaturity of the Japanese, and the fear that the old (particularly older males, as Japan is still very much a patriarchal society) feel towards the changes - in perception, attitudes and desires - amongst young people in modern Japan...'Visitor Q' particularly highlights a growing dissafection with the traditional mainstay of Japanese culture - the family unit - and the subservient role of women and children within it, a role that has changed, and continues to change, irrevocably as more and more outside influences flood in - particularly the wholesale adoption and adoration of American cultural iconography - threatening to overwhelm what are seen as 'traditional' values...'Visitor Q' as with many of Miike's films, however, can be enjoyed simply as a sick, slick, twisted and darkly amusing comedy...This is the family that put the 'fun' in disfunctional...And their mysterious Visitor (the 'Q' of the title, one assumes...) although a million miles away from the visiting angel in 'The Bishop's Wife', has, in the end, the same effect, healing this terminally warped family...but in absolutely the least predictable way imaginable! If you're easily shocked, then don't bother. You won't enjoy this, and it'll only make you get all steamed up and onto your moral high-horse...'Visitor Q' has to be watched with a healthy and open mind...

Unique

I have never seen anything quite like this. Very odd story about a family where the daughter is a prostitute, the son, who is bullied at school, beats his mother, the father is an incestuous cameraman/director and the mum is a junkie. Oh and there is a visitor who hits people with rocks.

The story starts strange and gets stranger. It hits just about every taboo that you can imagine. I find it hard to express just how good this film is. Black comedy at its blackest and best.

Breast milk, anyone?

After watching Audition and Ichi the Killer, I thought I had seen all that Takashi Miike has to throw at the viewer. This film is shockingly sick and weird (breast milk anyone?). Taboo after taboo, shock after shock... it just keeps coming. Just as you think it can't get any more depraved... it does... and again! After a while you just can't help laughing as it gets just too over the top.

Strip away all shocking scenes, this is essentially a study on the deterioration of modern Japanese society and a pi$$ take on reality TV that seems to be flooding all the networks around the world. This is the ultimate in black comedy. Fantastic!

Disturbing

I am a particular fan of Miike, Loving his artistic direction as well as his controversial and shocking depictions of human depravity and violence. However, Visitor Q was one step too far for me. It is clear that this film aims to be some kind of seriously dark comedy, but the issues it deals with I found impossible to see in any kind of humourous way. At best I simply hated this film, at worst I thought it took some overly depraved themes and tried to make them seem funny and entertaining. Well, I didn't get it! Seriosly disturbing viewing.

The Blackest Comedy I Have Seen

This is a truly twisted movie. The beginning is very dark and disturbing, but as the story unfolds the situations become more & more farcical. This film is NOT for the faint of heart or the easily offended. I found the first 20 mins replusive but by the end I was killing myself laughing. If like me you have a sick sense of humor don't miss this, one of the best i've seen in a while

[Highly rated reviewer]

no

no no no no no no no no no no no no

Most shocking film ever made??

Visitor Q is a very strange combination of incest, male rape, female rape and murder, negraphilia and more.

It contains some of the most shocking and disturbing scenes I have ever seen and although it was, in its own way, an interesting film I am still unsure if I actually enjoyed it. (Hence the 3* rating). I've thought about the movie a lot but I'm not sure that means I really enjoyed it.

If you have any 'hang ups' or are offended easily, you'd better not hire this. If however you're into seeing some very strange breast milk scenes in the context of a hugely bizarre film then this is the one for you.

This is definately the most shocking film I have ever seen. If there is a film that exists that is more shocking than this I never want to see it.

If you're renting this. Good Luck!!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Amazing if a little disturbing

What can I say, this film was recommended to me by someone who knows I like weird films. This fits the bill perfectly. This film pushes the boundaries of bad taste but still manages to have some kind of plot. The basic premise is a guy is trying to save his job by coming up with an original idea for a tv show. He goes to desperate lengths to try to impress his boss.

Interesting

Takashi Miike is probably the most interesting director in the world today. Prolific, provocative and extremely diverse in both style and content, his films are always going to at least be worth discussing. Unfortunately, this oddity is one of his weaker ones. Miike goes for shock value continuously here, making his earlier Ichi The Killer look positively tame. Ostensibly a Pinteresque tale of an enigmatic stranger invading a family home, the film is unfortunately often fairly static, with the punctuating scenes of incest, necrophilia etc jolting the viewer out of a film which can often be uninvolving. That said, there are some funny moments, and a Miike film is never a waste of your time. However I would say that newcomers to Miike should check out Audition first - its much more accesible. I would probably recommend Visitor Q for those who are already Miike fans.

I tried

Normally i try to watch a film to the end before i feel i have the right to pass a judgment on it, but sadly i could not do it on this occasion, i hate censorship in a film anyway, this film had a stupid muffled effect over most of the sex scenes, so why release it over here. Besides this the film was still a self indulgence at our expence, i have watched many japanese films over the years this has to be one of the worsed.