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| Visitor Q | |
|---|---|
 Japanese theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Takashi Miike |
| Written by | Itaru Era |
| Starring | Kenichi Endō Shungicu Uchida Kazushi Watanabe |
| Cinematography | Hideo Yamamoto |
| Edited by | Yasushi Shimamura |
| Music by | Kōji Endō |
| Distributed by | CineRocket |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 84 min |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| Budget | ¥7,000,000 (~$60,400) |
Visitor Q (ビジターＱ, Bijitā Kyū) is a 2001 Japanese erotic black comedy-horror film directed by Takashi Miike. It was filmed as the sixth and final part of the Love Cinema series consisting of six straight-to-video releases by independent filmmakers via a brief but exclusive run at the minuscule Shimokitazawa cinema in Tokyo. The six films were conceived as low budget exercises to explore the benefits afforded by the low-cost digital video medium such as the increased mobility of the camera and the low-lighting conditions available to the filmmakers.
Visitor Q often replicates the style of documentary footage and home movies, which invokes a sense of realism that contradicts the film's more bizarre elements and black comedy. The film's plot is often compared to Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema, in which a strange visitor to a wealthy family seduces the maid, the son, the mother, the daughter, and finally the father, before leaving a few days after, subsequently changing their lives.
Plot
The film starts off with a question: "Have you ever done it with your Dad?"; the viewer then sees Miki Yamazaki, a young prostitute, trying to persuade her father, Kiyoshi, into having sex with her. Her father is videotaping the scene for a documentary he is preparing on Japanese youths. Though he is disgusted with himself for considering it, Kiyoshi agrees to the act, and Miki charges him 50,000 yen. The two have sex, but Kiyoshi suffers from premature ejaculation. Miki mocks him, calling him a 'minuteman', and then doubles her price because of his failure.
In the next scene, called "Have you ever been hit on the head?", Kiyoshi waits for the train at a local train station. Outside, a man wearing a red shirt, the titular Visitor Q, is smoking. As Kiyoshi remains unaware of the Visitor's presence, the Visitor grabs a rock from the ground, opens a window and hits Kiyoshi over the head with it, knocking him unconscious.
The film then moves on to a scene titled "Have you ever hit your mom?" In this scene, the mother, Keiko, is working on a jigsaw puzzle, and her hands are shown to have red marks, showing where she has been beaten. Her teenage son, Takuya, comes in and starts throwing things at the already broken apartment walls because he is unhappy with the toothbrush his mother bought him. He then hits his mother with a rug beater. Later, bullies from Takuya's school come to the front of the house and shoot fireworks through the son's bedroom window, forcing him to cower on the floor. Meanwhile, Keiko prepares and injects a dose of heroin.
On his way back from work, Kiyoshi crosses paths with the Visitor again, who hits him over the head with a rock as in their first encounter. The two arrive at the house, and Keiko serves them dinner. Kiyoshi announces that the Visitor will be staying with the family for a while. Takuya comes down while they are eating and starts beating his mother again. This does not surprise or bother Kiyoshi or the Visitor. Later, Kiyoshi is seen watching one of his old tapes, and it turns out that he was raped by a group of teenagers.
The next day, Kiyoshi is on his way to work when he sees his son being beaten and robbed by some of his schoolmates. He films it from a distance and appears very pleased with the footage.
Keiko is getting ready for work. The viewer discovers her body is covered in marks from where her son injured her. She also has a limp.
Kiyoshi meets with a female co-worker (Asako Murata), who believes he is going too far in his work. Keiko, working as a prostitute, is whipping a customer with a belt (at his request). She then goes to a park to buy more heroin. When Keiko returns home, she discovers the pieces from her jigsaw puzzle have been arranged so as to form a trail through the house, ending at a photograph of her daughter. The Visitor is at home, and he teaches her how to carry out lactation for the purpose of emotional and sexual pleasure.
At dinner, Keiko is much happier than usual thanks to her interaction with the Visitor and has prepared a lavish meal. Takuya, however, is sullen and throws a bowl of hot soup at her face. Keiko refuses to be disrespected in this way, briefly leaving then returning with a carving knife. She throws it at her son, who is terrified by her new resolve, while everyone else is very pleased by this turn of events. Kiyoshi is exhilarated when the son's schoolmates start attacking his house with fireworks again, which he videotapes. Keiko and the Visitor continue to eat peacefully while Takuya cowers in terror as shards of glass and fragments of wood dislodged by the fireworks are strewn across the hallway.
Next day, Takuya is bullied again. Kiyoshi tapes the incident from his car with the Visitor and his co-worker. The co-worker gets fed up with Kiyoshi and tries to leave. He follows her on foot and sexually assaults her while the Visitor, emotionally neutral, tapes the scene, neither involving himself in nor preventing the incident before him. Kiyoshi unintentionally chokes his victim to death.
He takes her body back home and puts her in the greenhouse. The Visitor is still taping, at Kiyoshi's instruction. He sends the Visitor to get garbage bags from Keiko, but when the Visitor asks her for them, she takes her clothes off and reveals she is dressed in a garbage bag. She then makes herself lactate and produces great quantities of milk that covers the floor while the Visitor watches from underneath an umbrella.
During this time, Kiyoshi is drawing on the woman's body with a marker pen to prepare it for dismemberment. He tapes this for his documentary. Becoming aroused, he has sex with the dead body. He then notices she is getting wet and is amazed that this is possible for a dead woman. When he brings his hand up, however, it is covered in feces. He then discovers that his penis is stuck inside the corpse due to rigor mortis. Keiko comes out to help and rushes to the shop to buy several large bottles of vinegar. She empties the bottles into the bath with her husband and the corpse. This does not help, though, so she gives him a shot of heroin, which frees him. They are both exhilarated, and it is revealed that all of this was observed by the Visitor, who had been continuing to film them.
Later on, the couple is having fun dismembering the female co-worker's corpse when Takuya turns up in the front yard with the same schoolmates beating him. The parents rush out, and with great pleasure they finally kill all the bullies using the saws and knives they were using to cut the co-worker's body to pieces. Later, their son is shown lying on the floor in the puddle of milk. He thanks the Visitor for bringing his family together with his unique brand of chaos.
With the issues he witnessed now seemingly resolved, the Visitor leaves the house. While walking down a nearby street, he encounters Miki who propositions him. The Visitor readies his rock to hit her on the head, and does so off-screen. Bruised by her encounter with the Visitor, Miki returns home to find her mother clad in a tarpaulin in the greenhouse, her father nursing from her mother’s breast. She smiles and joins them.
Cast
- Kenichi Endō as Kiyoshi Yamazaki, the father
- Shungicu Uchida as Keiko Yamazaki, the mother
- Fujiko as Miki Yamazaki, the daughter
- Jun Mutō as Takuya Yamazaki, the son
- Shōko Nakahara as Asako Murata
- Kazushi Watanabe as Visitor Q
References
- "Visitor Q (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes.
- Mes, Tom (2001-05-01). "Midnight Eye review: Visitor Q (Bijita Q, 2001, Takashi MIIKE)". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
- Mes, Tom; Sato, Kuriko (2001-05-01). "Midnight Eye interview: Takashi Miike". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
- Dennis Schwartz (2006-05-25). "visitorq". Homepages.sover.net. Retrieved 2013-10-06.
External links
- (in Japanese) Visitor Q at the Japanese Movie Database
- Visitor Q at IMDb
- Visitor Q at AllMovie
- Visitor Q Review at Revolving Video