Writers: HIKARI and Stephen Blahut
Director: HIKARI
This warm, bittersweet comedy is the perfect vehicle for the avuncular Brendan Fraser. He plays a jobbing actor in Tokyo, but has made little headway since a toothpaste commercial some years earlier. Rental Family begins hilariously as we see him audition for the part of a tree. But playing a mourner, a role entitled “Sad American”, at what he thinks is a real funeral, gives him a job for a company that provides family members to those who need them. The company’s tagline is “Providing Perfect Happiness”.
Philip’s first gig is to be married to a woman who is escaping the expectations of her parents. The wedding is elaborate, with a fake celebrant and the organisers all members of the company. Phillip has pre-ceremony jitters and locks himself in the bathroom. It’s up to Mari Yamamoto’s Aiko to convince him to go through with it, and after he sees his new ‘bride’ with her female lover, Phillip eventually sees the good that such pretence can bring. His bride is happy, and her parents are delighted that she has married and not disgraced the wider family.
But his next two jobs are not so easy, and Phillip finds it difficult to remain professionally distant. He’s to be a little girl’s father in helping her get a place in an elite school that doesn’t accept children from single parents. However, the girl has no idea about the subterfuge and believes that Phillip is her real father, who has come back from a life in the States. His other assignment is to interview an ageing actor to make him feel vital and important, even though his film career has almost been forgotten. Phillip plays his roles too well and feels guilty for his gaslighting.
In Rental Family, HIKARI (otherwise known as Mitsuyo Miyazaki) has crafted a beautiful film about modern-day loneliness. You might think that robots would be the future companions of the lonely, but, in her script, co-written with Stephen Blahut, she avoids cutting-edge technology to demonstrate how the employees of the company are just as solitary as their clients. Phillip lives in a tower block, and, Rear Window-like, watches his neighbours from his balcony where he forlornly hangs his washing out to dry.
HIRAKI stays on the right side of sentimental, and Fraser, too, never overplays his role, ensuring that Rental Family feels like a grown-up movie, despite its Hollywood sheen. There’s good work, too, from Takehiro Hira, who plays Phillip’s heartless boss, but his character Shinji develops with the rest of the cast. While the film never repeats its hilarious opening minutes, Rental Family is still an affecting watch even if we know where it’s headed.
Rental Family is screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2025 from 8-19 October.
