Poster Description: Standing in a lush forest flooded with sunlight, Phillip (Brendan Fraser)
and Kikuo (Akira Emoto, Shin Godzilla) hold sturdy branches as they
smile and laugh together. The film’s title and accolades appear above them. A
quote reads: “Brendan Fraser delivers a superlative performance.”
(Not to be confused with Instant Family, starring Mark
Wahlberg and Rose Byrne – yes, I made that mistake.)
Phillip (Brendan Fraser, The
Whale) is an American actor living in Tokyo and struggling to find work. He
agrees to work for a Japanese “rental family” agency, which requires him to
play stand-in roles for strangers.
Directed by Hikari and
co-written with Stephen Blahut, each client Phillip meets feels as though they
could have a film of their own: the young woman desperate to please her
parents, the mother desperate to get her daughter into private school, and the
ailing actor desperate to be remembered, among others. Similarly, we get
glimpses of what life is like for the other people working at the agency,
including the boss, Shinji (Takehiro Hira, Shōgun), and Aiko (Mari
Yamamoto, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters). Poor Aiko has the difficult task
of talking Phillip around when the pressure of his first assignment hits - or,
rather, coaxing him out of the toilet cubicle!
I first became aware of the
concept of renting a family through the 2019 documentary series Japan with
Sue Perkins. As one of my favourite British comedians, Perkins brought a
polite, dry bewilderment to the idea: lying for a living – but isn’t that what
actors do anyway? Kind of, perhaps, but with less life-changing consequences.
We sympathise with Phillip as a
fish out of water, adjusting to and learning how to play these roles. The
iconic shot of his larger frame hunched among smaller Japanese commuters on
public transport will remain in your memory long after the film ends. Fraser’s
performance is warm and understated, as Phillip becomes emblematic of Japan’s
apparent loneliness epidemic; we are gradually drip-fed details of his life
through each client he meets. In turn, the people he encounters — and grows
close to — begin to change his perspective. Phillip’s bond with little Mia will
break your heart.
Yes, renting a family may seem
bizarre from a Western perspective, but you quickly forget that reaction. Yes, Rental
Family sheds light on the rigid social structures of Japanese culture, but
never in a cruel or preachy way. It is one of the most beautifully
compassionate and perspective-altering films I have seen in a long while.
My Rating: 5 STARS OUT OF 5
My
Sources:
Rental
Family poster - http://www.impawards.com/2025/rental_family_ver3.html
What’s the
name of the elderly actor? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rental_Family
Who plays
Kikuo? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Emoto
Who
directed Rental Family? - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14142060/
Who did Hikari
co-write it with? - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6679464/?ref_=tt_ov_2_2
What else
has Hikari directed? - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1586248/?ref_=tt_ov_1_1
Sue
Perkins’ documentary series about Japan/when did I watch it? - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11054898/
Who plays
Shinji? - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3042346/?ref_=tt_cst_t_2
Who plays
Aiko? - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4590767/?ref_=tt_cst_t_3
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