Customer Reviews

Bijitā Q [VHS]

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

After viewing "Audition" and "Ichi the Killer," I doubted whether Japanese director Takashi Miike could shock me again. Boy, was I wrong! If you thought the piano wire scene in "Audition" went far beyond the pale, or the hot oil bath in "Ichi the Killer" left you speechless--as it did me--prepare yourself for the new nightmare that is "Visitor Q." The scenes in this film about a twisted Japanese family would make the Marquis de Sade leave the room in disgust. I have no idea what Miike was thinking when he made this film, but remember this one little fact--"Visitor Q" is a made for television movie. That's right, after viewing this movie remind yourself that this obscenity aired on Japanese television within the last couple of years. We Americans cannot put forth any prime time fodder that could even remotely compare to this atrocity, unless you count something like "Teletubbies." Thank goodness we still have a few qualms. As much as I distrust censorship of any type, I am definitely not ready to see something like "Visitor Q" on network television on this side of the pond.

"Visitor Q" takes a penetrating look at your typical Japanese middle class family, Miike style. The father of this bizarre clan works as a reality television host who is always willing to go so far over the line in his broadcasts that his fellow workers shun the his very presence. The daughter of the family no longer lives at home since she is too busy putting in a full schedule at a brothel somewhere in town. The young son in this creepy household spends his days meekly submitting to a trio of bullies who beat him up after school. The mother is a real winner, a heroin addict and prostitute who allows her abused son to beat her with wicker canes. The mother and father fail to communicate on any substantive level. The son's problems with the bullies goes unheeded by the family, except when the father decides to fashion a new reality program centering on his child's beatings. The relationship between the father and his daughter is best left unelaborated on here; it is sufficient to say it is one of the most warped father/daughter connections in film history. Yes, this family suffers a host of psychological problems that would give a Sigmund Freud a coronary.

All of these people are sick to the core of their souls, a problem that is about to undergo a radical change with the introduction of a complete stranger into the household. This anonymous (we never learn his name), scruffy looking youth first makes an appearance on the scene when he hits the father of the family on the head with a rock--twice. For some mysterious reason, dad brings this guy home with him for dinner. As time goes by, we see this chap increasingly integrate himself into the daily lives of the family. He sets his sights on the mother at first, rekindling a sense of motherhood in the woman in yet another unmentionable scene (there are a lot of unmentionable events in this movie). The interaction between the stranger and the mother is the most dramatic in the film, but eventually the father, son, and even daughter all fall under the spell of this enigmatic visitor. The end result of these odd encounters is a type of peculiar healing, where the family abandons their insane behavior and returns to a sense of normalcy. Obviously, "Visitor Q" is a Miike film, so the healing takes some really stomach churning turns along the way. After all, there is nothing like dismemberment and a host of other depravities to turn a family around!

There has been some effort to emphasize the reality television elements of the film, but "Visitor Q" has little to do with this theme. There are only a few scenes that even deal with this element, specifically the first taboo shattering images between the father and daughter and a couple of other short bits later in the movie. What is really going on here has to do with the Japanese family and how it deals with the pressures of modern life in an industrialized society. Miike likes to shock with his films, and his target audience must surely have expressed such an emotion when they saw his take on a traditional Japanese family plagued with so many obnoxious psychopathologies. As weird as it sounds, I firmly believe "Visitor Q" is actually an extremely conservative film. Even as the director breaks the bounds of good taste, he seems to possess an earnest belief in the overriding importance of the healthy family unit. You could easily make the argument that images of the type indulged in by Miike have led to the breakdown of the family, and it would be an effective argument, but this movie does contain a strong pro-family theme.

"Visitor Q" runs for about eighty four minutes, short compared to the other two Miike films I have seen. The picture quality is excellent. Extras on the DVD include four trailers--"Visitor Q," "Samurai Fiction," "Fudoh," and "Freeze Me"--some liner notes about Miike's films and a short biography about the director. Once again, Media Blasters has released another soul shattering movie to DVD. The disc I watched had a technical problem, though: whenever I hit the menu button on my remote control the picture went gray and I had to start the disc over again. Perhaps this flaw appeared only on my copy of the movie, but it's something to think about before purchasing if it is a widespread glitch. I look forward to watching more Miike mayhem in the near future. If you would like to examine this director's queasy visions, "Visitor Q" is the ideal starting place before moving on to the more complex "Audition."

A subversive fable from the brilliant Takashi Miike, Visitor Q is some kind of demented masterpiece. Diverse influences are apparent here, from Bunuel (his delight in mocking bourgeois values) to Kubrick (static shots, symmetrical compositions) to absurdist and surrealist film in general. Miike presents us with a family that gives new meaning to the word "dysfunctional." The father is a TV reporter so desperate for sensational topics to tackle that he videotapes himself having sex with his prostitute daughter. He placidly eats his supper while his teenage son whips and beats the mother, who also works as a prostitute in order to support her heroin habit. One day the father brings home a mysterious guest (the titular Visitor, although his name is never given) who casually exerts an almost godlike power over the family, bringing them together in a most unexpected manner. The film is very funny at times, sometimes in an almost slapstick way, sometimes in a VERY dark, twisted way. There's plenty of room for debate. Who or what is Visitor Q? What exactly has he done and what does it say about the nature of familial love? This daring film will haunt you for days after seeing it.

as an evertonian the answer is, sadly, more times than i care to remember. this was the first film to elicit the same response though.
i'm familiar with a few of miike's films (audition being the pick of those i've seen) but have never been subjected to seing nearly every taboo being touched upon (actually prodded - and none too gently - might be more appropriate word), and it's not for the want of trying on my part either. drugs, , incest, necrophilia as well as self abuse (no, not that kind!) and domestic violence.
the film is blackly comic throughout, as well as bizarre. the plot has been summed up better by other reviewers but my own take is that the nameless character (dubbed visitor q) comes to destroy a family, for reaons not revealed. finding that there's in fact nothing to destroy (they seem to be doing fine without him), instead his presence ends up binding the family together through necrophilia and murder. which is some going as the father would show/ endure anything just to get on tv (witness his 'interview' with the 'youth of today'), the daughter is a prostitute (with 'early bird' specials!), the son is being bullied at school and in turn beats up his mother (while father looks on), who pleads that he doesn't touch her face, cos she needs to keep her looks in order to turn tricks to support her drug habit. the dialogue between the father and visitor q never rises beyond the banal ('i'm off to bed', 'goodnight then'). the galvanising effect of the vistor's presence gradually draws the family together through one means or another (funniest line is probably after the second(!) lactation scene, when the father mutters "she hasn't been this competent since we got married").
it's has mentioned what actors are prepared to be put through for their art, and i must single out the mother for special praise. one of the most excrutiating scenes sees her with a client being intimately examined and then whipping the client at his request - she complies of course but every movement shows how he might be getting something from it, but she isn't. then there's the whole lactation thing...
one of the characters says very early on that the children are the future of japan. from what i've seen and read whatever opinions we may have of the japanese (salaryman etc), they are capable of being as dysfunctional as everyone else, thanks for asking.

I happened upon this little masterpiece while visiting my sister in Minneapolis. I saw it at a local art gallery by the name of "The Walker". I think, I was probably the only one out of the three of us who attended in our small group who absolutely loved this film. It was so demented, so twisted, and so unbelievably hilarious, that I began to regret living in Florida, where such films are non-existant. No heavy worded review here, simply a solid thumbs up. If you enjoy cynicism, creatively revamped, and artfully employed... you'll love this film. Its almost like taking every fault you might find with a family, amplifying it to an astounding end, and then just taking a sharp left into insensability. This film has it all, an abusive son who is then bullied by his peers, a lactating mother hooked on heroin, a father who not only delves in necrophelia, but lest we forget incest, and a number of other things. Thats alright however, as everyone is sucking on mummys nipples at the end. Its then you smack yourself in the face with the proverbial hand of understanding, and exclaim... "Oh now I get it". Yeah... its great.

The plot is a simple family drama. The father feels like a failure. The daughter is a depressed runaway. The younger brother is bullied and resents his family for not caring. The mother (the center of the family, and the one with the power to bring them all together) feels empty and unloved. A mysterious young man follows the father home one day and silently observes the family throughout their misadventures. He is the catalyst for change. He is Visitor Q.

In reading the reviews of Visitor Q there seems to be two camps; those that like the movie and love this "sick" family, and those that don't like it because they don't get it. I'm suprised that both points of view seem to be taking this movie at face value. The way I see it, the "twisted" acts portrayed in the movie are not real, but are actually exaggerated metapors of what the characters feel and struggle with.

In one scene, the younger brother who is constantly bullied (again, in a manner that is over the top and "unreal"), is having dinner with the rest of the family. The bullies are outside the house yelling and screaming at him. Eventually they launch fireworks into the house and almost set the place a blaze. The family just sits there nonchalantly eating and passing around food. This is not real. It is a metaphor showing how the family is unconcerned with the brother's struggle with the bullies.

The interesting thing (and I think the root of all the confusion) is the way Miike shot this film. It's shot digital with lots of handheld shots, giving it a shockingly objective, almost documentary feel. I think this causes viewers to accept what they see, and either laugh or turn away in disgust, instead of breaking it down in order to find the real meaning. In other words, the family is real, the emotions are real, the drama is real, the extreme acts are metaphors.

So then why does this movie contain drug use, necrophilia, incest, prostitution, violence and a couple of murders? And why are these things treated nonchalantly by seemingly normal, middle class people? Well like I said I believe they are metaphors, but I also think Miike is making a cultural statement. In a time of so much cynicism, desensitization, and commercial sex and violence, basic family values can and must be held sacred.

There are some disturbing scenes in this movie. There are some wacky humerous scenes aswell. Despite all of this, Miike has somehow made a truly heartfelt movie about the importance of family. You want this family to work. You want to see them smile. And when they finally do, you'll be happy you stuck it out with them.

I rented this film in hope Miike would shock me. I like shocking movies and like to be shocked. Well, this is not the most shocking flick ever, not even in "shocking top 10", although I reached my goal - I was rather impressed but not terrified. If you just want to see it as one of the "taboo-breaking", exploitative movies - go ahead, it's exactly one of them. If you want to find some deeper meaning - it's also one of those with deeper meaning. Entertainment and philosophy - two in one.
Seems like an average japanese family where:
Father copulates with his own daughter
Mother is a drug addict
Son beats his mother
Daughter works as a hooker
Some stranger comes to live in their house and many odd things happen: father shoots on camcorder his son being bullied by school-mates, mother and the stranger find pleasure in her enormous lactation, in the end everyone takes his own part in an act of necrophilia and so on...
It all may seem gross and disgusting but at the same time it's funny. It's absurd as life itself, it's about modern family and loneliness. Well, maybe if Todd Solondz were japanese he'd made such a film.
So it's not that bad - everyone will find something to his own taste, but also not that good - "Irreversible" or "Audition" are more gross and there are movies that are far more metaphysical.
Proceed at your own risk.

A short R-rated Japanese "horror" film about a deranged family that videotapes their crimes by director Takashi Miike. The movie stars Kenichi Endo, Shungiku Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe, and Shoko Nakahara. The film contains nudity (both male and female; though a particular lower region is blurry on the front for both the men and women; going by the comic books, the blurring/censoring might be required by law in Japan - though in the movie, that blurring does not always occur).

DVD features: Contains the movie (in Japanese with English subtitles) plus some extras. The special features include: a director's biography (very detailed); liner notes (very detailed); and trailers (four trailers: Samurai Fiction; Freeze Me; Visitor Q; and Fudoh).

The movie opens with what looks like a prostitute and a "John" in a hotel room (appearances can be deceiving). Both have cameras, and the jerky camera work appears to represent what the two cameras see, sometimes at an extreme close-up view (though the woman is the one most often in view). Then the camera becomes mostly stationary and the "action" unfolds (though the action is somewhat blurry - the action is blurry, and a particular area of the male form is deliberately blurred; and the stationary position changes). The movie starts out seeming to be just a somewhat boring interaction in a hotel room.

And then it turns strange. A man (call him father), the same man from the first scene, is hit over the head. Then a new scene, set in a disturbing home where the son dominates the mother, and what's this? Father has brought his "friend" that hit him on the head over to his apartment to meet his wife and son. It would appear that father is a journalist that had been trying to make a little documentary about how the youth are fairing in Japan, but was attacked. The attack was video-taped and shown on the air (not the earlier attack mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph). The man became disgraced and now is "on-break." Well, his new idea is to film his own family, and document bullying. The bullied end up bullying others.

I suppose it is interesting just trying to figure out what is going on, or what the movie is truly supposed to be about. Though it isn't that hard to figure out after a while (but, do you are you correct?). With this type of strange movie, it is difficult to determine how much to reveal, so I'll need to leave the review vague. I will say that the people involved appear insane, and there appears to be a slight similarity to the film "15 Seconds" in that both include criminals video-taping their acts, though they are very different movies.

The sick and disturbing movie contains violence (both of the bullying nature and of the sexual nature - women getting attacked), torture, whipping, drug use, death, dismemberment, necrophilia (and the dangers of said acts), and incest. A strange disturbing little movie (though it can be strangely funny at least one time). Hard to rate this type of movie, or know which category to place it. Good music at least. Due to the need to use the subtitles, and the strange nature of the film, it is hard to critic the acting, nor can proper crediting be given (most of the credits appear to be in Japanese; a list of the actors is given in English, but not matched up with any particular part). (3)

Are you kidding me? This is so awesomely sick! I gotta drink a beer with Takashi Miike someday. Or sake, or whatever, that guy is way too cool.
Here is the most twisted, deranged, sick, offensive, bizzarre films ever. It even has a dark, unsettling humor where you might be embarrassed that you just laughed.
Not a lot of brutal murder shots in this one, Miike tries to come up with the sickest stuff imaginable just for kicks. It's packed with--no wait, it's better you have no prewarning. Just buy this film, watch it, love it!

Did I mention that it's sick?

This 2001 film by Takashi Miike has to count as one of the most disturbing film's I have ever seen. I have seen my share and yet this film still made me wince and turn away from the screen a few times. Takashi Miike has been called the Japanese Quentin Tarantino, but that is an understatement. Miike would've shown in full-glory Mr. Blonde cutting off that tied-up cop's ear. Not just show it but do it up close and replay it in slow-motion. Miike would've shown exactly what was going on behind Marcel Wallace and how he and his homies got medieval on those Klan rednecks. Miike doesn't pull any punches and adds in a kick and a stab and twists the knife just to be sure.

Visitor Q (Bizita Q in Japan) is Miike's take on the nature of violence and sex that has permeated the media with a nod towards reality TV. His film is especially revelant since it was filmed and first shown in Japan. A nation and culture that blames the West for its decadence and immorality when at the same time its entertainment industry churns out anime, manga and films that put Western entertainment to shame, i.e. tentacles and more tentacles.

The plot is simple and straightforward. A failed former TV reporter tries to provide for his family by filming a documentary concerning the effects of violence and sex on the youth of today. The rest of the film from there ends up showing this father's dysfunctional family involved in heavy drug abuse, their indifference to violence around them, incest, necrophilia, and a few other things I don't even know the name for.

Bizita Q is a film that Marquis De Sade would have trouble sitting through. But despite the disturbing images and sequences in this film, Miike does make a good point about the subject of sex and violence in the media and its effect on youth and just people in general. After awhile, those I was watching the film with stopped turning their face from the screen and began watching the film without flinching. This is a film that is definitely not for everybody, but if you are brave enough and have the stomach for it, Miike's film is a good study in gross excess and surrealism in film. He straddles between fine art and extreme exploitation, and after the first few minutes falls on the latter, revels and doesn't apologize.

Right of the bat, this movie is not for everyone. It opens with an intertitle announcing nonchalantly, and I quote, "Have you ever f*cked your father?". Seeing this written simply on the screen, you start to look around the theater to try to ascertain other people's reaction. You feel slightly uncomfortable. You wonder if your presence at the movie is a testament of your perversity. As the scene progress and it becomes eminent that this little girl is indeed going to have sex with her father, you feel a genuine unease. You even wonder if other member of the audience will simply stand up and leave... but everyone remains seated. They watch the act play itself out. It looks so real!! Who in the world filmed this? Is this a movie or did it really happened?

Then you realize that the reason nobody left, was that they were all glued in their seat. Frozen. The scene was so intense! And then... the laughter starts. An unsure, reluctant laugh. Should I laugh? Is this funny? Is this sick? Distasteful? Sad? The answer is: this is human nature. Some of us do this. Some never do, but nonetheless have the urge to do some of these things. We are not all as neat, conformist, lawful, respectful, righteous as some might think. We have a dark side. This film shows us this dark side. Simply, honestly, and with great care not to be afraid to go too far.

This film is extremely daring. It depicts acts that are not only illegal and to most (I sincerely hope) immoral, but that are also very passionate and intimately linked to who we are. Seeing this on screen allows us a glimpse into this forbidden world. It is as though we are actually committing these atrocities vicariously, and if not, are at least silent witnesses. But we enjoy it. Yes, why do we enjoy it so much? Because, like it or not, it is part of us, somewhere deep (very deep) inside, we understand these fellow humans.

So behind the shock value and the constant disturbing images thrown at the spectators, there lies a deep analysis of human drives that is quite revealing and to the point. This film is like a case study in a scientific experiment. Between the sex, between the violence, we find the motivations and reasons for this decadence. For some it may require more courage than others, but we owe it to ourselves to watch... to learn.

This film is not as dark as you might imagine it to be. That is what is so surprising about it. The incorporation of humor and absurdity in hateful and abject displays. The situations are in fact quite funny, even hilarious. The people are real persons that you might even come to like. The story is somewhat sweet, heartfelt. So come in open-minded, let go of your inhibitions, of your own self-censorship, and enjoy it!! Laugh, cry, let your stomach turn a little and feel like you've experienced something never before experienced. This is what novelty is all about.

The first scene is just the tip of the iceberg compared to the rest of the movie, but I would spoil the fun by telling you what you are about to see, just go ahead and see it. Expect nothing. Expect anything.