It’s amazed me that so many people have never heard of the Japanese phenomenon of rental family services. Werner Herzog made an entire movie about it, Family Romance LLC, one of his rare narrative features. I’ve always been shocked that this service hasn’t found its way to America. Basically, these services hire actors to play characters in a client’s life. Sometimes it’s someone major, like a loved one, or someone minor, like a cheerleader in the crowd rooting you on. For director Hikari (of the series Beef), Rental Family is a gentle, bittersweet exploration of this odd cultural quirk, and how easy it is for genuine and artificial emotions to get entangled.
Brendan Fraser’s career resurgence continues in Rental Family as American actor Philip Vandarploeug. His deep, sad eyes and lined forhead suggest wells of regret, loneliness, and perhaps something terrible that has kept him in Tokyo for the last seven years. He’s struggling to find work now, racing from gig to gig with no success. His one claim to fame was an embarrassing toothpaste commercial where he plays a superhero fighting against cavities and gingivitis. Suddenly, Philip’s agent calls with a quick gig that pays well, something he can’t refuse. Philip shows up for what turns out to be a faux funeral in which he plays a “sad American” grieving the corpse…who rises up from the coffin to soak up the adoration of mourners.
It’s a funny scene that suggests a kind of quirky, fish out of water story in which Philip stumbles around Japan, this awkward, towering American man, playing various wacky characters. There is a little bit of that, but Rental Family goes a bit further than that, offering a surface-level exploration of the cultural and ethical complexities with such a service. Philip accepts a full-time gig from the company’s owner, Shinji (Takehiro Hira), who says he needs a “token white guy” to fill out his ranks. The gigs Philip gets range in complexity. Being a best friend to a lonely guy who just wantst to play video games is pretty easy. On the other hand, portraying a journalist interviewing an aging actor (an incredible Akira Emoto) with dementia requires a lot more nuance. Pretending to be the groom in a phony marriage to a young woman looking to escape her oppressive household, while keeping her parents happy, is almost too much for Philip to handle.
The most poignant thread finds Philip posing as the long-absent father to 11-year-old Mia (Shannon Gorman) because it will help her get into a prestigious private school. So he must be convincing in an entirely different way. Mia is understandably angry at the father she never knew, so Philip must win her over if he’s going to be of any use. And while Philip ultimately believes that he’s helping people with this job, even he sees the potential damage he’s going to do to this young girl when she is abandoned once again.
Of course, Philip isn’t so good at keeping his emotions in check. He begins to have real paternal feelings for Mia, and she loves having a father. Hikari can get a bit cloying in showing the positives of rental family services, and slips around without fully confronting the damaging aspects. To explore the latter would lead to an entirely different kind of movie, one that is much darker and lacking in the heartfelt, feel-good aspects Rental Family brings.
Still, it would be too much to say that Rental Family is without depth.The film explores authenticity, identity, and how Japan’s stigma of psychological therapy gave rise to the need for rental families. Hikari also notes, through Philip’s relationship with a sex worker, that sentiment can be transactional in a variety of different ways. How is hiring a rental family service any different? Pretend emotions can give way to something genuine. We see it all of the time in romantic comedies, but it’s true in life. To the client, it all feels real, and fulfills a need that may allow them to move forward.
Rental Family is gentle and human, surprisingly funny and yet a little mournful. It’s a film that runs the gamut of emotions, with Fraser delivering a sensitive performance that ranks among his best and could find him back at the Oscars stage. While the film could go a step further, you won’t leave unstirred by it. You’ll laugh, cry, and think about the role the people you care about most play in your life.
Searchlight Pictures will release Rental Family in theaters November 21st.
*NOTE: This review was originally part of our Middleburg Film Festival coverage.
