Visitor Q (2002)

Touches You

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

"Visitor Q" is directed by Takashi Miike ("Audition", "Ichi the Killer") so you know that you are in for something unique when you sit down to watch this movie. And boy does he deliver oddities in this movie. It is without a doubt the most weird and disturbing Miike movies that I have seen so far.Takashi Miike is a great director and has a very direct and unusual approach to film making, and thanks for that. It is great that there are someone who has the courage to be this controversial and bizarre.The story in "Visitor Q" is about the estranged Yamazaki family who is dysfunctional beyond comprehension. The father, Kiyoshi, is working in television and is apparently making a segment on teens in Japan, and the very first scene of the movie is where we see him having sex with his own daughter. Yeah, that's right, it is that twisted. So already there from the very start, you have the standards of the oddities that you are in for in the movie. The mother of the family, Keiko, is physically abused and beaten by their son, and is providing sexual services to strangers in order to maintain her drug habit. The son, Takuya, is bullied by boys from the school and is taking out his anger and frustration on his mom. The daughter, Miki, has run away from home and is selling sex in order to make money. Being hit on the head twice by a stranger, the father invites the assailant into their home. Oddly enough, the visitor turns out to be the ingredient required to fix this dysfunctional family.The story is so odd and so out there that it is just downright bizarre. But oddly enough, it works out so well, because the story is so far out there that it is actually interesting to watch. And there is something disturbingly captivating about this dysfunctional family."Visitor Q" has some really good acting performances, even though it has a rather small ensemble of people on the cast list. The movie is really carried by Ken'ichi Endô (playing the father) and Kazushi Watanabe (playing the Visitor), and is well helped along also by Shungiku Uchida (playing the mother).It should be said that "Visitor Q" is somewhat of an acquired taste, and it is not suitable for just everyone. It is recommended that you are familiar with Takashi Miike's previous work and also a fan of Japanese cinema. There is a fair share of nudity and adult situations in the movie, so take that into consideration as well before you sit down to watch the movie.I did enjoy the movie, despite it being so weird, but then again I like movies that are not mainstream Hollywood productions. This movie is a great addition to Takashi Miike's legacy.

I can handle a disturbing movie pretty well. I watched Oldboy, Ichi the Killer, Sympathy for Mr.Vengeance, and similar movies but it never really phased me or anything. BUT this f***ed up movie will make you uncomfortable from the beginning till the moment the credits start rolling at the end. Honestly i lost all interest in this movie very quickly. The main issue that i had with this movie is that i absolutely hated every single character in this film. All of them are f***ed up beyond anything you can imagine. They have no souls they are not human therefore i felt nothing but hate towards the characters. As soon as the movie ended i immediately felt regret for watching this messed up piece of cinema.I didn't reflect on the plot, the characters, the themes or anything. All i can say is that it is really messed up and even if you claim to have a iron stomach you WILL have a hard time watching this movie. Take my word on this fellow movie watchers stay the hell away from this movie. If i could give it a negative score i would but 1 is the lowest it will let me go so 1 out of 10 it is.

Meet the Yamazakis: father Kiyoshi, a failed TV reporter, is diddling his sexy prostitute daughter Miki; disturbed teenage son Takuya is being bullied at school, but dishes out the violence at home; and mum Keiko is turning tricks to fund her drugs habit.Into this extremely dysfunctional family unit comes a strange visitor who brings peace and harmony to the household through the power of lactation.Even by Takashi Miike's standards, Visitor Q is one hell of a weird ride, and is undoubtedly the director's most outrageous work to date (and considering this is the same guy who gave us Ichi the Killer, Gozu and Audition, that is really saying something!).From its opening sex scene between Kiyoshi and Miki (which narrowly avoids being overly explicit thanks to some judicious blurring) to the breast milk drenched finalé, this deranged shot on DV feature presents enough sex and violence for the most depraved of film fans, and even manages to answer that age old question "What should I do if I get my penis trapped inside a dead woman's vagina?'.Exactly what message Miike is trying to convey with this film is anyone's guess, but for wall-to-wall deviancy, you'll be hard pushed to find anything better (or should that be 'worse'?).I give Visitor Q a rating of 8 out of 10 purely for it's ability to render even the most jaded of viewers speechless.

Visitor Q opens with the title card "Have you ever done it with your Dad?" Through a digital camcorder, we watch a hot young prostitute as she seduces her father into having sex with her. Her father is the one with the camera, filming the scene for a documentary on Japanese youths. Eventually it seems the father is letting himself be seduced, and she tells him the price. They have sex, the father is a preemie, and the disappointed daughter reacts by doubling the price. The father then realizes the camera has been on throughout.Then another title card appears: "Have you ever been hit on the head?" What follows is a single shot, the content of which one could reasonably guess based on the title of the scene.Among all the connecting vignettes, twisted and vomit-provoking as can be, there is one which very telling, but by this time, the viewer is so taken aback that finding significance in what one is seeing seems so bewildering. But the scene involves the father in one of his many frantic situations with his camera, running off to the camera about how he is supposed to feel. He doesn't know how. And neither do we.Miike is known for his go-for-broke gross-out violence, blood, guts and gore, not to mention all the perverse sexuality we tend to see in his countless films, and many of them he has churned out as simply as just a fun job. When asked why, for instance, in Dead or Alive, a character produces a bazooka from thin air, Miike laughed and said "Why shouldn't he have a bazooka? Don't all guys fantasize about bazookas?" With this direct-to-video shocker, the viewer realizes how aware he is of the effect of his content, and in so being, never indicates to us what we are supposed to feel. Most movies, most TV shows, certainly the news and most other forms of media output indicate through a basic film language what we are morally supposed to be feeling. Miike doesn't find this social phenomenon so easily done, and builds this $60,000 cult film around those aforementioned forms of media, exploiting the production's conception as an exercise in exploring the benefits of low-cost Digital Video to replicate documentary footage and home movies, which lathers the film with a sense of realism, which contrasts wildly with the freakishly bizarre scenes and pitch-black humor. He keeps this tense juxtaposition consistent and never allows us for a moment to sit back and relax, to shift into auto-pilot.As a result, watching Visitor Q becomes this grotesque experience throughout which we realize how unaccustomed we are to human perversions. Am I repulsed, exasperated, laughing, compassionate, overwrought and bewildered? I am never signaled. You're on your own. And consequently, I felt all of those things.