Rental Family Review

Rental Family

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Directed by Hikari

Written by Hikari and Stephen Blahut

Starring Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hiro, Mari Yamamoto, Paolo Andrewa Di Pietro, Shinji Ozeki, Takao Kin, Risa Kameda and Yuma Sonan

Rated PG-13

An American actor in Tokyo struggling to find purpose lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. He rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection.

One of the things that I have enjoyed about the resurgence of Brendan Fraser’s career has been the unique stories and roles that he has been taking before and after his Academy Award win. While I’ve enjoyed some of the extreme performances, it was always the everyman character that I thought was his strength as an actor. This movie connects to that everyman character in some interesting ways.

Fraser plays actor Phillip Vanderploeg, an American living in Japan who is finding it difficult to find work until he receives a call telling him there is a role for him. When he arrives, he discovers that he is the only American at a funeral for a Japanese man who isn’t really dead. He also discovers that the funeral was arranged by a man named Shinji who runs a company that sets up employees with people who need someone to fulfill a missing role in their lives and Phillip is offered a job.

Fraser plays Phillip as a person, not a persona and that I appreciated. I never got a sense that Phillip was anything less than sincere in both his moments of confusion and with his genuine emotions. He is an actor that is filling in the holes in people’s lives, but they are filling something within him as well and you feel that as he gets to know the people he has been hired to spend time with even though they don’t get to know the real him. It’s both sad and engaging seeing him reveal things about himself to them with honesty behind the role he is playing.

Phillip finds himself split between two different jobs. One, he is tasked to be a reporter interviewing an aging actor and the two become friends as they discuss life and Phillip learns more about the man’s past. There are some sweet moments between the characters and Phillip finds something to connect with in the father figure, much to the chagrin of the man’s daughter. The other relationship is playing father to young girl named Mia, whose mother hires Phillip to pretend to be the girl’s father until she can be accepted into school.

Phillip finds himself becoming attached to the people in his life through the roles he plays in them and one of his co-workers Aiko (Mari Yamamoto) warns him against getting too close as she deals with more intense roles that have led to violence. Roles that seem to numb her emotionally but also hide deep feelings of attachment. It’s a brilliant performance from Yamamoto. Another standout performance is Shannon Mahina Gorman, who plays Mia. She is instantly endearing and has a completely unique and interesting introduction to Phillip. She slowly begins to not only trust him, but grow closer to him, giving him a purpose he never thought about. It’s a bond that leads to a heartbreaking moment between the two that was pitch perfect in its emotion and intensity.

Hikari directs the film with a beautiful reverence for not only the people in the film, but also the richness of Japanese culture both the traditional and the modern. There are so many beautifully acted scenes but also some beautiful looking scenes that perfectly capture the tone and mood of the story and the emotions being conveyed in the moment. I love the subtlety of every moment and how Phillip changes as a person in the film.

Rental Family is a delightfully sweet, endearing and emotional film that doesn’t hit you over the head with moments meant to elicit emotion. The movie takes you on a journey where you, like the characters, discover those emotions on your own. I appreciate a film that feels authentic in its search for meaning for its characters. I truly enjoyed this movie and felt better at the end of it.