Prolific filmmaker Takashi Miike often delights in putting off the audience with controversial subject matter and Visitor Q is no different. The film starts off with the question "have you ever done it with your Dad?" and the viewer then sees Miki, a young prostitute, trying to persuade her father, Kiyoshi, into having sex with her. The rest of the family is just as depraved. Mommy is addicted to heroin and, like her little girl, sells her body to support the drug habit. Their teenage son, meanwhile, enjoys whipping his mom and beating her up with his bare hands. The meat of the film comes when a stranger (the titular visitor) muscles his way into the familys home and teaches them how to behave like a (somewhat) rational unit. He does so by bashing the father's head in with a rock (among other tactics). Through all of Visitor Q's extraordinarily out of the ordinary imagery, the film tries to make statements about people with closed-off feelings, but doing so in a twisted dark comedy dilutes the idea significantly. Which is all for the better, since it's difficult to feel an emotional catharsis from seeing a woman lactate all over a kitchen floor. Oh yeah, that happens.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com
