Visitor Q
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Movie Reviews of Visitor Q
Movie Review: No cannibalism!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have never seen a a Takasha Miike film, don't make this your first. If you found this movie because some freak like me happened to buy it along with something normal and you got a "customers who bought blank also bought Visitor Q" then click the back button right away!As the subject says, there is absolutely no cannibalism in this movie! It has everything else though, including things I never imagined. I bought this movie sight unseen because of who directed it, and until that moment I never realized that I had a complete and total lack of movies about incest, lactational-watersports, and necrophilia. This movie took care of all three in one fell swoop.
Interestingly, this movie is fairly simple and straightforward compared to movies like Audition, and The Happiness of the Katakuris. I had to watch those movies several times (and if you've never seen Audition you can't imagine how hard that can be) before I felt that I had a grasp of what was going on. Visitor Q is pretty simple: an angel comes to help a dysfunctional family get back together. That said, don't be fooled into complacency! Watch this movie alone first, and then think long and hard about who you plan to show it too
There are two major annoyances in the film. One is that since it is Japanese, they blur out things that would be perfectly OK in an American movie. The other is that a microphone and a stage-hand are visible in a mirror during a fairly long scene, and they aren't hard to spot either. They must not have had enough budget to reshoot that terrible mistake.
Movie Review: Off the wall satire on reality TV (4 1/2 stars)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the type of film I would love to see made here in America. Not that I want theatres filled with excessive violence, incest, and necrophilia; it's that this film goes as far out as it wants to and never looks back. That kind of ballsy satire is what we need; anything to keep from being safe and PG-secure. Back to the point: this is an extremely edgy take on reality programming which features a truly disturbed family. Taboos are violated almost at random in the film's attempt to push and maintain it's distance from the expected well behaved Japanese family. As far as I'm concerned it works, and works well.This is not to say Visitor Q is an enjoyable watch, or a film you'd recommend to your friends, but you might if you like your entertainment off the wall and far, far from conventional. The basic plot follows a distorted nuclear family as they go through their day. Nothing is normal or expected in what they do, or more shockingly, how they react to each other's behaviors. It's the lack of response that's the kicker here, and you should really see it for yourself.
I really did like this film. Even though it's not a pleasant watch I think anyone who likes raw unrestrained films that want to push your buttons and not only do so but have very good reasons to in the first place should get their hands on this one.
Movie Review: A touching celebration of family values
Summary: 5 Stars
A subversive fable from the brilliant Takashi Miike, Visitor Q is some kind of demented masterpiece. Diverse influences are apparent here, from Bunuel (his delight in mocking bourgeois values) to Kubrick (static shots, symmetrical compositions) to absurdist and surrealist film in general. Miike presents us with a family that gives new meaning to the word "dysfunctional." The father is a TV reporter so desperate for sensational topics to tackle that he videotapes himself having sex with his prostitute daughter. He placidly eats his supper while his teenage son whips and beats the mother, who also works as a prostitute in order to support her heroin habit. One day the father brings home a mysterious guest (the titular Visitor, although his name is never given) who casually exerts an almost godlike power over the family, bringing them together in a most unexpected manner. The film is very funny at times, sometimes in an almost slapstick way, sometimes in a VERY dark, twisted way. There's plenty of room for debate. Who or what is Visitor Q? What exactly has he done and what does it say about the nature of familial love? This daring film will haunt you for days after seeing it.Movie Review: A thoughtful documentary on Japanese culture.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a thoughtful documentary on Japanese culture.
While the movie only shows the most basic everyday interactions of a Japanese family, it still manages to compell as Japanese family structure, interaction and culture happen to be quite different from our Western culture and traditions.
This documentary has been unfairly maligned by many American reviewers as shocking and perverse. I am very saddened to know that many of us in the United States would malign other peoples without reason. We should be more open minded and be sensitive to the fact that what we are viewing can not be called immoral simply for the fact that it is different from our own culture.
If you can expand your horizons and get past the small Western world view of family structure and traditions, you will find the typical Japanese family, as depicted in this documentary, is rich in valuable culture and traditions and is as deserving to be celebrated as our own.
Thank you Takashi Miike for your reaching the hand of friendship across the seas and introducing us to this rich rewarding view of the typical Japanese family.
Movie Review: Visitor Q
Summary: 5 Stars
I happened upon this little masterpiece while visiting my sister in Minneapolis. I saw it at a local art gallery by the name of "The Walker". I think, I was probably the only one out of the three of us who attended in our small group who absolutely loved this film. It was so demented, so twisted, and so unbelievably hilarious, that I began to regret living in Florida, where such films are non-existant. No heavy worded review here, simply a solid thumbs up. If you enjoy cynicism, creatively revamped, and artfully employed... you'll love this film. Its almost like taking every fault you might find with a family, amplifying it to an astounding end, and then just taking a sharp left into insensability. This film has it all, an abusive son who is then bullied by his peers, a lactating mother hooked on heroin, a father who not only delves in necrophelia, but lest we forget incest, and a number of other things. Thats alright however, as everyone is sucking on mummys nipples at the end. Its then you smack yourself in the face with the proverbial hand of understanding, and exclaim... "Oh now I get it". Yeah... its great.