review
VISITOR-Q
Review By: Matthew Anderson
Cinema: Japanese
Company:
Tokyo Shock
Running Time: 83 minutes
Region: 1
Rated: NC-17 for violence, nudity, rape, adult situations.
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS ONE OF AN ADULT NATURE. PARENTAL DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
SHORT VIEW
Kiyoshi
Yamazaki's life is at the bottom of the barrel. His daughter (Miki)
is a prostitute in Tokyo. His son Takua, tortured by his class
mates, takes his frustrations out on his mother. Keiko, constantly
beaten by her son, has turned to drugs and prostitution to supply her
heroine addiction. To cap it all off, Kiyoshi is viewed as a
laughing stock at work after he shows a video of him being raped with his microphone by street punks.
Then one day, a man hits Kiyoshi on the head with a rock. The man is Visitor Q, and he is now a guest of this hyper dysfunctional family.
One day, Kiyoshi has an epiphany. He decides to tape his own misery, and show it to the world. With help from Visitor Q, he sets out to make the ultimate reality show "True Bullying".
However, Visitor Q has more on his mind than reality television, and it involves destroying this family!
THE LONG VIEW
VIDEO: The DVD quality excellent. As this movie
was shot on digital video tape, there is no film grain or garbage to be
translated. There is also no pixels or color bleeds, despite the
large amount of red in this movie.
AUDIO: There is only the Japanese 2.0. The audio is pretty loud, but there is not a lot of surround sound. With this movie, it's good that there is not. I think that if we had realistic sound, I would find myself under the bed sobbing.
EDITS: Not as single frame was edited, not even the
blurring over the naughty bits.
EXTRAS: Some Liner Notes, a brief Takashi Miike bio, and trailers are the
extras.
STORY: This is the most bizarre, messed up bit of Japanese Cinema I have ever seen. I don't know what Itaru Era was on when he wrote this, but this has to be the blackest comedy I have witnessed. The situations and the events that follow can only be created by a real genius, or a total nutcase.
The dialogue is pretty realistic, with very little embellishment, and down right funny.
ACTING: Frankly, it's amazing. The fact that you totally forget that everyone is in a movie is a true testament to the cast as well as the director. I was totally convinced by Shungiku Uchida's quiet portrayal of a battered mother and whore/drug addict.
The true star of the film is Kazushi Watanabe as Visitor Q. Barely saying a word, he conveys who he is almost entirely by body language and the sneers on his face.
FAN SERVICE: I would not call it fan service, but there is a lot of nudity and sex in this one. The thing is, it's almost never done in an appealing way.
THE 2 VIEW
There is only one phrase that can sum up this
movie...."What the Hell?"
This movies starts with perhaps the strangest of questions of all, "Have you ever done it with your dad?" from there it just snowballs to the next question "Have you ever been hit on the head?" and the next one, and so on and so forth. What goes on for the next 80 minutes will have you sitting there in total shock. My mouth was on the floor by the time it was over.
Visitor Q is nothing that I have ever seen before in Japanese film. I don't think there is anything out there that comes close to this bizarre experiment. Imagine if you took your average reality program and filmed the most dysfunctional family you ever saw on Jerry Springer. There, you might have an idea of what this film is like. In just 83 minutes, this movie packs in incest, abuse, drug addiction, prostitution, murder, necrophilia, defecation, assault, and even a little rape, all filmed on video tape. As the old saying goes, "It's like a train wreck. You can't stop looking at it, even when you want to."
As I mentioned earlier, this is the blackest comedy ever made. While many will argue with me that this is nothing better than legalized porn, the situations are so over the top, you can't help but laugh at it. Believe me, while it sounds sick, when Kiyoshi is having sex with a dead woman (you read it right), his observations on the "mysteries of life" is down right gut busting. The running gag with Visitor Q and the rock is also very funny.
While Tokyo Shock purports "Visitor Q" to be "a harrowing, absurdist take on the reality TV phenomenon", I think it is more an attack on Japanese society. Here we have a father, who has been so wrapped up in his own self loathing, that he ignores the very thing that made him happy in the first place, his family. His wife, neglected for so long, feels inadequate and thus degrades herself, while allowing her son to abuse her. The son, for reasons not quite explained, is a victim of a group of bullies, because he has been told not to fight back. "What no one sees, no one knows." is the rule of thumb in Japan. All through out the movie, the characters try to hide what they are doing from everyone, including themselves. It isn't until Visitor Q arrives that the barriers start to erode. When Kiyoshi tries to explain to his co-worker that he is not ashamed to share what happens in his life with others, she tells him that she can't stand being with him, and attempts to "put it behind her" as it were. Unfortunately, ignoring the problem does not make it go away.
I am not sure if Takashi Mike is a brilliant director, or just a slick director with a overly graphic visual style. This is one for film school. Being shot on hand held digital video cameras gives it a documentary feel, yet some may think that he was just being cheap. While he did not write the script, I am sure that he went way, way beyond what the writer had intended. It's a very in your face style, and he is not afraid show things even some of the greatest directors would be to scared to do. Takashi Miike reminds me of Krubrick in his "Clockwork Orange" phase. Especially after watching the trailer for Visitor Q.
Visitor Q is not for the casual viewer. It is a scathing, dark, disturbing look at human nature. Make sure that you check any hang ups at the door, otherwise you will not make it past the first 10 minutes.
Also, keep a look out for any strangers with rocks!