Directed by Shinji Aoyama, Sad Vacation centres on Kenji, who, abandoned by his mother, Chiyoko, when a wee lad, gets by in the employ of the yakuza until he decides to care for an orphaned Chinese boy he comes across when smuggling illegal immigrants. That move leads to the death of his partner in the business and his need to hide. He ends up a driver chauffeuring bar hostesses to and from their homes. And then fate intercedes; later summed up by one character in that 'we are all fated to meet the people we meet'. On one drive, he happens to come across his mother, now remarried with a son and the proprietor of a successful transport company. It is the relationship of mother and son, and brother to half-brother which then consumes the remainder of the film, with startling effect at the end. Despite his attempts to have his mother feel the abandonment he felt as a young boy, Chiyoko opts not to abandon Kenji again despite the cruelness he brought to her. And perhaps that's what this movie is ultimately about: the depth of a mother's love and forgiveness. I enjoyed this film despite its sad ending.
My rating 7 out of 10.
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