"Visitor Q (2001)"

(Originally released as Bijita Q)

Starring: Kenichi Endo, Shungika Uchida, Kazushi Watanabe, Jun Muro, Fujiko, Shoko Nakahara

First, the lowdown: Takashi Miike puts the “fun” back in “dysfunctional.”

I hate “reality television.” Never in my life have I seen a better example of how phony everything on TV is than “reality” programming. What a misnomer: I’m sorry, but I’m not surrounded by visually compelling people with vapid personalities and a smidgeon of makeup to prevent their faces from reflecting the studio lights. Fox’s Shit to Freak You Out series (like When Hamsters Attack) is more realistic than Survivor and there’s a better chance of seeing breasts. The only time when “reality TV” will hold my interest is when they have a show where the contestants have to kill each other and then violate the corpse.

Rant over.

Kiyoshi is a TV interviewer who’s had a series of bad luck (and a lot of mental issues.) After an interview with rebellious teens ends with him being sodomized by them on camera with his own microphone, Kiyoshi’s career has taken a downward turn. On top of that his home life isn’t too happy either: Mom is a heroin addict who is routinely brutalized by their son, older sister has been turning tricks instead of going to school, and the local bullies like picking on the son.

Enter the Visitor, a nameless person in a loud red shirt whose distinguishing characteristic is that he likes to bash people in the head with a rock. (Kiyoshi sports a gauze dressing on his noggin for most of the film because of an early encounter.)

The movie in fact kinda reminds me of Todd Solondz’s ironically-named Happiness. You’re presented with a tableau of miserable players and get to watch the swirling spiral of their lives, but as an added feature it’s voyeuristically filmed entirely with a hand video camera. The opening scene involves Kiyoshi approaching his daughter as a customer (squick), and is seen from the camera Kiyoshi is using (with intermittent flashes of stills taken by the daughter’s digital camera.)

That being said, I didn’t find this as enjoyable as other movies. True it was fascinating to see the character’s arc in a scribbly fashion, but it didn’t seem to show me anything new. Then again, I have been watching a lot by Miike lately, so it could be possible I’m just getting burnt out on it.

Line of the movie: “This isn’t a mystery of life! It’s shit!” Uhhh, yeah.

Three stars. Are you a mod or a rocker?