NYAFF 2008: Sad Vacation

Shinji Aoyama has made a career of exploring the complex relationships between children and their parents. From his very first film Helpless to arguably his greatest triumph Eureka, he has explored the effects that broken families can have both on the parties involved and society as a whole. Sad Vacation continues Aoyama’s master thesis on the subject – and is possibly the concluding chapter.

Forming both a direct and thematic trilogy with the aforementioned pictures, the film stars Tadanobu Asano (reprising his role from Helpless) as Kenji, a journeyman scraping together a meager existence any way he can; including providing transport for human traffickers (where he acquires a “son”) and as a chauffeur (where he acquires a girlfriend). One night while driving a drunken client home he meets his estranged mother, resurrecting feelings of resentment for leaving him behind with his alcoholic and abusive father. Taking up her offer to move into their home/trucking company, he meets a collection of kindred lost souls under the family’s employ including Joe Odagiri (Adrift in Tokyo) and Aoi Miyazaki (returning from Eureka). While his mother’s intent is to heal old wounds and start anew, Kenji is focused not on reconciliation but revenge.

Like Aoyama’s previous efforts Sad Vacation operates at its own leisurely pace, slowly working its way into the viewer’s mind and heart. Using clever editing techniques and immaculate compositions to engage the audience, the film is a surprising model of efficiency given the long runtime. Like many of his contemporaries, Aoyama takes a less is more approach to telling his stories allowing his carefully considered images do the talking. While the film does suffer from some lapses in logic and superfluous supporting characters (Odagiri is wasted here), the core themes work absolutely. Despite the heavy issues being examined, once the beautifully beguiling final scene unfolds I challenge anyone not to smile!