A drug addicted mother who prostitutes herself to feed her habit, a daughter who prostitutes herself seemingly for fun, a son who beats his mother because he’s being viciously bullied while the father films the attacks in a misguided attempt to get his TV reporter job back.Throw in necrophilia, incest, rape, and a mysterious stranger who sits at the dinner table demanding seconds as he watches everything and you have Takashi Miike’s 2001 film Visitor Q.

Best known in the west for psycho lover thriller Audition (one of his weaker efforts) and Ichii The Killer (one of best efforts) Miike is a prolific director shooting around six films a year in multiple genres. For anyone unfamiliar with the work of Miike, he takes no prisoners and Visitor Q is either the best, or the worst place to start. It is impenetrably weird and deliberately obtuse to the extent it makes David Lynch look like Michael Bay.

Filmed on cold, ungraded video in a documentary style Visitor Q looks like the work of an amateur with the embarrassingly uncomfortable feel of a home movie. Look closer though at the shot composition and the completely immersive and unflinching performances and you know you are watching the work of a genius.

It’s described as a comedy, but it’s not that funny unless you find faeces during necrophilia amusing. Imagine watching a Mike Leigh kitchen sink drama on meth and acid. It’s excruciatingly tense, because of that home movie intimacy and the uncompromising yet understated manner in which the subject matter is dealt with.

I’m not sure if I enjoyed it, but I was riveted to my seat, it’s more of an uncomfortable experience than a film, but eight years since being made it’s a testament to one of the greatest directors in the world.

6/10 .