Review of Visitor Q (2001) by Joseph S — 25 Jun 2008

Necrophelia, incest, rape, decapitation, children abusing their mothers, and an enigmatic visitor who fixes a dysfunctional family by hitting them in the head with rocks(much like Ignatz Mouse's brick in "Krazy Kat").

Part reality TV show, part perverse tragi-comedy, this film's main goal seems to be to offend, confuse, and alienate. How funny can getting your dick stuck in a corpse be, well not as funny as you'd think.

The film does succeed in creating a pervasive sense of unease dread. The performances are delivered excellently and there's no denying the emotional impact of the film. It would be easy to fault this film for presenting no clear theme during it's parade of obscenities, but this would be to miss the point of transgressive films.

Trangressive films like this may contain all the violence and sex you would find in a horror film or porn, but here the body and the bodies of others become a battlefield for the emotional well-being of the characters.

At the end of this film, though the characters have all done horrible things, they've gone beyond horror, beyond morality, and any notion of restriction, and this has unified them in a way their decaying middle class lifestyle could not.

The film also bears more than a passing similarity to Pasolini's film "Theorem". Miike has always shown a penchant for extremes but this is his "Story Of The Eye", understanding this is important before viewing, as the vicseral sense experience of the film will be lost otherwise.

Leaving, if you will, your dick stuck in the films metaphorical corpse.