I just watched
Visitor Q last night. And. Wow.
The film obviously borrows a lot from Blue Velvet while at the same time pulls out and examines even
more taboo sexual themes while providing commentary on not only the filmmaker, but the audience as victimizer.
Beautifully done, artfully directed and strong acting, this movie was nothing but...
impressive. It provides an objective an alienated view of extremely disturbing and uncomfortable topics and creates a successful atmosphere of
dis-ease. There was not one single moment in that film where I felt
safe and, for that, I think that Miike is an incredible director.
I think that with Visitor Q he makes us examine our role as audience members and make us reflect on what we, personally, consider shocking and disturbing.
For me, the last image that you are left with as a viewer was by far the most disturbing of the movie.
However, this makes me question, "Why was this the most disturbing? And why did I not have a similar reaction from the first scene, which is equally as abhorrent?" I think that by the last scene you have a sense of all of the characters and it definitely has more impact, whereas the first scene you are getting an introduction, and it feels as though there's more of a caption under an image without any meaning attached to it:
Have you ever had sex with your father? You get the image and you get the caption, but you don't have time for the two to settle in. That's something that I find incredibly interesting about this director - He is testing the audience to ultimately find out, "What
truly disturbs you?"
The movie is riddled with all kinds of violence - both physical and sexual, with the juxtaposition being, "Which is the worse offense? Which makes you feel more uncomfortable? The physical violence? Or the sexual trespasses? In a few times, he uses the physical violence to break up sexual violence (the scene with the bullies as comic relief from the sexual themes - the fact that this
violence is "relief" says a lot about the viewer as a person I believe).
The more I think about this movie, the more I honestly appreciate it.
This is the third time that I've seen a work of Miike's, the first being the short film The Box as part III of
Three... Extremes, and the second being
Audition. When I reflect on these works, it's very obvious that he likes to prey on your sense of normalcy and diverge into the absurd. And, moreover, he creates worlds that are
not safe.
So.
What do
you think of Miike? Pros? Cons? Overrated? Underrated? I mostly want to hear what others think about Visitor Q: Initial responses? Reactions? Why, in your opinion, is this a lauded film in pulp Asian cinema?
I am honestly excited to see
Ichi: The Killer and more of his work.
Gozu is also in my Netflix queue.