If ever a film needed a warning it’s this one. The warning should read “for true sicko’ only…or for those who wish to be a sicko,†though it’s actually quite a good piece of filmmaking aside from (or perhaps because of) the extreme levels of depravity. Everything is touched upon in the context of a family unit, domestic violence, drug addiction, prostitution, incest, adultery, bullying, necrophilia, mass murder and general icky wrongness. In fact for a film that sets out to shock, delighting in rubbing the viewers face in extremity, then upping the ante, Japanese director Takeshi Miike’ Visitor Q is clearly a success. I rarely get offended by films. This film offended me. Its humour is pitch black, often associated with slapstick gore or the height of wrongness, such as when a teenage daughter repeatedly refers to her father as “early bird,’ after he ejaculated prematurely during their commercial sexual transaction. And that’s just the beginning. The necrophilia scenes or the rain of lactating milk scene truly defy description and the fact that they’re occurring simultaneously via crosscutting only heightens the punishment for the hapless viewer. Miike’ purpose here is quite muddy, though revelling in tearing to shreds the boundaries of acceptability is nothing new for him, with Ichi The Killer, Audition or Dead or Alive under his belt, though Visitor Q is a much more twisted form of depravity – even for him. There are no boundaries for the characters in this family unit, no moral framework, nothing is unacceptable, consequently we have the father sitting passively eating dinner whilst his son whips and assaults his terrified wife, or a father videotaping his son being bullied. Inexplicably he invites a stranger into the family home, a man who has twice assaulted him with a rock. But then most things are inexplicable in Visitor Q, and whilst it is undoubtedly an incredible film, the trouble is that it’s so dark, evil and sick sick sick.
Extra Features:
A sick copy of the trailer of this sick sick film.
