1. Visitor Q (2001)
Directed by Takashi Miike, Visitor Q is one heck of a messed up film. It is sick, but highly enjoyable in its sickness and should delight fans of extreme cinema no end. Once again it comes courtesy of our Japanese friends. Is there no end to the cinematic madness they conjure up?! The film starts with a question - "Have you ever done it with your dad?". Young prostitute Miki is being filmed cavorting in front of a camera by her father Kiyoshi. She persuades him into having sex with her in front of the camera for 50,000 yen but he ejaculates too quickly for her liking so she demands 100,000 yen. In the next scene, the father gets hit over the head with a rock by a stranger for no reason. The mother, Keiko, is working on a jigsaw puzzle when her son comes in and beats her up because he doesn't like his toothbrush. She later injects heroin as bullies from school throw fireworks into the house to get at the son. The father gets hit on the head by the stranger again as he comes home from work. He takes the stranger home and says he is going to be staying with them for a while. Nobody objects. The father later watches tapes, one of which show him being raped by a group of teenagers. On his way to work the next day, he sees his son being beaten by bullies. He films it with great delight. The mother is initiated into the joys of lactation sex by the visitor. The son watches behind the door. That night, the mother is in a good mood and serves up a delicious meal for the family. The querulous son throws a bowl of hot soup at the mother. Instead of passively accepting her fate as usual, she picks up a knife and throws it at the sons head. Everyone is thrilled. There are more firework attacks which the father gets very excited about. The next day, the father sexually assaults and accidentally strangles a female co-worker. The visitor casually films it. He brings the body to the green house and when marking out how he is going to dismember it, becomes aroused and has sex with the dead body. This is all filmed. The father cannot pull his penis out because the corpse is in rigor mortis. This crisis prompts the mother to run out and buy all sorts of oils but it is a shot of heroin that frees him. Ecstatic, they have fun dismembering the corpse together. They then go and chop down and kill their son's bullies. The son thanks the visitor for making them close together as a family. The visitor leaves and finds the prostitute daughter. He bashes her with a stone and she returns home in a bloody mess to find her father breastfeeding of her mother. We are shown the daughter later breastfeeding of the mother symbolising the return, healing and completeness of the family. Takashi Miike has thrown out some pretty out there films - Audition and Ichi the Killer, but none of them are as bizarre and confrontational as Visitor Q. The only film I can draw a parallel with it is Teorema, a Pasolini fan. Most people would only consider it a minor Pasolini film, but I happen to be very fond of it and the theme of a stranger who comes into the family and changes everyone's lives is similar except that the stranger in Teorema wrecks the family and the stranger in Visitor Q mends the family. Yes the film is warped and sick. However, it is beautifully filmed (on a digital camera which Miike uses masterfully) and brilliantly acted. If you want a nice anodyne comedy - go to Hollywood. There is plenty of comedy in this film - such as the father getting stuck in the necrophilia scene - but it is so black it is unlikely to be either spotted or appreciated by those who are not into extreme cinema. Japanese films in general have the balls to produce visions and statements that would be unthinkable in the West. Their creativity is bold, radical and in your face. Most Westerners couldn't stomach this but for those of us who can, we are richly rewarded by oh so much lovely lovely degeneracy.
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