Reviewing this DVD marks the third time I've seen VISITOR Q, and each time the same question occurs to me: "Did I really just see what I thought I saw, or have I gone completely insane?"

A haggard father, who is a failed former television reporter, tries to mount a documentary about brutality, bullying, and sex among youths (this idea comes to him after he is raped on camera, with his own microphone, by a gang of teen punks). He begins this documentary by interviewing his runaway prostitute daughter, but, in the process of his interview, ends up having sex with her. At home, his wife is regularly beaten by their son, so she turns to drugs to ease her pain. The son is bullied by kids at school, who shoot fireworks into is room at night and during the day beat him up every chance they get. Into their amazingly dysfunctional home comes the strange mysterious "Visitor Q". When the overwrought, delirious father inadvertently kills a young female tv executive he was trying to sell his idea, their lives spiral into even more bizarre territory... and somehow, the more depraved it gets, the more it unites them together.

VISITOR Q has to be seen to be believed. Its pretty safe to say, there aren't many art house, non-fetish films that prominently feature profusely lactating female breasts. Basically, it is a nice little satirical stab at family, and it goes to far more bizarre lengths than, say, Married With Children, The Royal Tenenbuams, Jerry Springer or Sitcom. And, not only are these characters pretty sympathetic, but the film is also funny, albeit in a go 'Ick' then chuckle kind of way. It is a mix of the absurd and the distasteful. The family is an absolute wreck, a dizzy, insane father, battered dope addicted mother, bullied son, prostitute daughter, all in one way or another avoiding their problems. We meet them long after they have been wrapped in some dysfunctional malaise. Then one day, Q, the stranger, bonks the father on the head with a rock escorts him home and begins to live with them. Somehow, this stranger is a catalyst, and (I don't want to give anything away) their lives may get weirder even more debauched, but also it brings them together. So, somehow, although the finale involves multiple murders, necrophelia, hacking up and disposing of bodies, and the already mentioned lactating breasts- its is, well, touching. Shocking, abnormal, and completely maniacal, but touching.

VISTOR Q is courtesy of Takashki Miike, infamous director of Audition, Fudoh, Dead or Alive 1&2 and City of Lost Souls presents this wonderfully bizarre, horrific black comedy. With visceral depictions of incest, necrophilia, abuse, humiliation, and rape, most people would assume that the film would be pure tasteless exploitation trash. And, considering it comes from a filmmaker who said of his movie Ichi The Killer that he wanted to make a film that (rough quote) "had no redemptive qualities", that is a more than fair assumption. But, it is not... exactly...trash. The film is told in an exaggerated surrealist style- the combined sensibilities of John Waters, Luis Bunuel and Francios Ozon. Sure it is juvenile (this is, sort of, a comedy) and very pervesre, but the perversity is just another means of storytelling. Granted its not the kind of storytelling that is always easy for most viewers to digest (of course something like Pasolini's Salo: 120 Days of Sodom, Man Bites Dog, or Solondz's Happiness comes to mind), but for those that can take it, I think it yields good results. I'm sure there are many people who would rather not see the acts in VISTOR Q and some people who would say the movie outright shouldn't have been filmed- thats fine. But, if you do think that way, I always think its best to bear in mind, somehow an absurdist, abstract novel like Georges Batialle's The Story of the Eye with its many extreme acts or a Salvodr Dali or Goya painting is considered to be brilliant art, yet the same things on film are considered, by some, to be wrong, taboo, and abominable... Oh, by every definition of the word it is sick, but art isn't all landscapes and Norman Rockwell paintings.

VISITOR Q is part of the Love Cinema Series of films produced by the CineRocket company. The Love Cinema Project was a series of films by young filmmakers, the Japanese equivalent of the Lars Von Trier & Co. Dogma films. Intended as straight-to-video releases, they were, sort of, academic exercises by some of Japans young filmmakers to test the Digital Video format and its possible low cost production/technical advantages. VISTOR Q was the sixth and final film in the series and was shot over the course of one week.

The DVD: Media Blasters, part of their Tokyo Shock series. First, the DVD is packaged in an attractive slipcase. I've already reviewed the film for the Region 2 PAL German release... link. In terms of quality they are pretty much exactly the same. The Media Blaster version wins due to its superior packaging, and, of course, being Region 1 friendly.

Picture: Full-screen, Standard, as intended since it was shot on Digital Video. As with any DV film, the format leans towards some heavy grain and softness, but the transfer has good contrast and color. Compared to the German release, the edge enhancement seems less, very minor- though this may have to do fussy with all-region decoding. Sharpness overall does lack some definition, but so did the German release. DV doesn't always look outstanding in terms of definition (Baise Moi for instance), but I found it to be more than acceptable and fans of the film shouldn't be dismayed.

Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Japanese language with optional white English subtitles. Sound is crisp and clear. No complaints.

Extras: 12 Chapters--- Takashi Miike text Bio--- Liner Notes--- Trailers for Samurai Fiction, Freeze Me, Fudoh and Visitor Q (which is a great, imaginative, mainly animated trailer)

Conclusion: I'll say it again- This is a film definitely not for everyone. Don't say you weren't warned... An offensively interesting movie from one of the new wave of offbeat filmmakers. The DVD satisfies and offers a welcome alternative to the previous other region releases and the Miike bootlegs that plague the market.