Visitor Q

Title: Visitor Q
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Director: Takeshi Miike
Language: Japanese

With a lack of Miike on this blog already, it is perhaps unusual seeing as the man has consistently created excellent films in a variety of genres (and his works takes up the most notable chunk of my shelf of any director) and remains one of the most respectable artists of the medium. Almost a companion piece for ‘Happiness of the Katakuris’ and shot on just ~£60K, It is his continued fascination with the notion of family that is once more at play here in ‘Visitor Q,’ taking a dysfunctional situation and adding a mysterious character in their midst so as to solve their issues, but anyone aware of this director’s previous work will know that nothing is as simple as this would make it seem. Known for his gratuitous use of violence and bloodshed, Visitor Q proves to be a different style for him, instead focussing on sexual excess, systematically breaking taboo subjects from incest to necrophilia in a comical manner as it gloriously speeds on to an unconventional resolution.

To start with, this family isn’t just ‘a little strange,’ this would make chat show hosts shocked; the son himself bullied heavily at school and so in turn takes out his frustrations on his depressed mother, beating her with a large collection of sticks that makes up the majority of his wardrobe. As a result of the multiple lacerations to her body, she seeks relief for her pain in the form of heroin, and as a result of being no longer wanted by her husband she hides her wounds before receiving male attention from the only source she knows of, allowing herself to be caught up in a brothel. The husband – a failing reporter – too frequents this brothel so as to release his sexual frustrations as well as document his findings on the sex industry, only to discover his daughter who recently ran away from home is making a living there, and it is this incestuous sex scene that first sparks the film. With the enigmatic Visitor known only as “Q” quickly making an appearance as the invited guest, his unconventional methods of ‘knocking’ sense into them so as to cure them of their inhospitable attitudes towards one another quickly takes effect.

This isn’t just ‘dysfunctional,’ this is downright absurd, and yet each character is responding to the situation in a believable manner, the vicious cycle in constant motion lending an alien but altogether unforced routine to their lives. The acting is for the most part excellent, each character with a small role to play but performing so as to feel coherent, their imperfect movements and unpolished and unrefined style enhancing the end result. The initial startling realisation of their day to day life on display in full excess from the start; it is this first half of the film that feels setting up for the laughs, desensitizing you to their plight to the point where – like the mysterious visitor – you think nothing of the various bizarre events that regularly occur within their household.

Sadly, the main downfall of the film is getting to this point, much of the first half without the comical aspect simply coming off as excessive without much of a real purpose behind it. Whilst it does eventually make sense in the grand context of the film, his normal excessive manner is perfectly suited to the more upbeat and less serious action in ‘Ichi the Killer’ or the blunt shock value of ‘Audition,’ here it feels firmly rooted within drama, simultaneously pushing boundaries of what can be considered acceptable cinema whilst graphically exploring taboo subjects, and trying to generate a certain degree of sympathy for the unusually tortured individuals, and the result is undeniably interesting but ultimately not thought provoking.

The cinematography is left very raw and visceral with all the long and awkward pauses bare and on display, creating a strong sense of open honesty without bias; there is no cutting between scenes to only portray one side to a character, instead we are left to see the whole. The soundtrack is used minimally to suit this as well, leaving everything bare and lending an almost documentary tone to the proceedings which only enhances the comical effect. This is a film that questions our notion of normality, and what it means to be a part of a family, and yet through the sadism and absurdity is ultimately a message of optimism and hope; that when united a family can manage to overcome any obstacle in their path. It takes a very special kind of director to find the lighter side to these subjects, and whilst it takes a while to get going, Miike has done a better job than I expect most would.