Review of Visitor Q (2001) by Joseph T — 05 Oct 2005

I saw Visitor Q about a week ago. I'm not sure what I was expecting. I admit I'm not terribly familiar with Miike's work. Other than this, I've only seen Ichi the Killer and Audition, both of which I enjoyed, but I knew enough about him to know I had no idea what to expect from Visitor Q. It turned out to be a revolting, explosive mess of social commentary, violence and unapologetic sex.

I've heard alot of things about it's commentary, mainly, as that seems to be what attracts people to it. I'd heard that it was a wrathful satire on everything from the typical Japanese family, to America's obsession with reality television. Now, I'm not saying it wasn't, but if it was - it was just pointlessly vulgar.

If I wanted to satirize the religious right's stance on abortion by making a movie about a republican who fought strongly for pro-life, but also happened to be a pedophile, would I really be saying anything of merit? Not really. Other than that people like him *might* be pedophiles. And that's what it felt like as I was watching Visitor Q. Yes, it was original. Yes, like his others, it was very compentently made. But I did not think it was poignant, or even the least bit important. Japanese horror nuts will tell you otherwise, but make no mistake - they hate you and want you to suffer.

It did answer one question I've had for a very long time though - having sex with a corpse WILL, in fact, expel the cadavers bowels. Now I know for next time.