I knew this might make a great movie! The minute I saw Conan O’Brien’s hilarious Japanese trip where he hired a Rental Family, I laughed hard, very hard. But I also knew there was something more interesting there, and hoped the right person might find a movie for it. Hikari probably has no idea who Conan O’Brien is, but she understands Japanese and American cultural mixtures to explain why a person might hire a Rental Family. Especially if someone as lovable as Brendan Fraser can be your dad.
Fraser plays Phillip Vandarploeug, an actor living in Japan for the past 7 years. In a rut, Phillip ends up getting hired by Shinji (Takehiro Hira) to participate in his Rental Family services. Rental Families in Japan are people who get hired to play a father, mother, sister, brother, boss, etc, by a person, to fill some sort of need. Initially dubious, Phillip gets swayed by Shinji, and his loyal worker Aiko (Mari Yamamoto) to participate, getting swept into the “selling emotion” part of the job. Especially to 2 clients, aging actor Kikuo (Akira Emoto), and young tween Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman) trying to get into a good school.
The whole concept of a rental family is wonderfully messy. Shinji talks of selling emotion here, but I would go further and say this movie’s at its best with emotion and connection. Through the eyes of Phillip, we see Japan as this wondrous place of amazing things…that can also be uncompromisingly lonely. That loneliness is ingrained in the rental family concept from both sides. People like Phillip are maybe a bit dubious at first, like at a wedding he’s playing the “groom” in. But then in a quiet moment he sees why surreality like this can actually generate real moments of happiness for people that never have any, keeping him going back for more. On the other side, Kikuo and Mia get what their deep heart needs, filling a hole/closing a wound. That being said, these situations are not sustainable for long periods of time; eventually, Phillip would either get caught, or find themselves sucked into this alternate reality, also not good. Rental Families walk this razor thin juggling act in trying to heal people so they can pick themselves up again: to be a temporary solution that’s just enough removed from reality director Hikari exploits for incredible blurred lines of messy emotions from Phillip and his clients as they spend more time together.
Because a movie is a lot like a rental family, the actors really dig deep and connect with this material incredibly well. Brendan Fraser acts as the glue in this movie. It isn’t as flashy as The Whale, but it’s subtler and more adult, playing the outsider entering a world he’s trying to understand in his new chosen Japanese home. It’s the rest of the cast around Fraser that really shines though, bringing me to tears a few times across multiple languages. Legendary Akira Emoto gives an amazing performance as Kikuo. You feel the layers of emotional armor fall off little by little as he spends more and more time with Phillip’s “journalist.” What started as an interview turns into a friendship, revealing layers of feelings Kikuo hadn’t experienced in years but was ready to feel again, alongside the audience. On the younger side, what an arrival performance from Shannon Mahina Gorman! The impossibly adorable girl will find a way right into your heart, bringing you to the highest of highs and lowest of lows as Mia navigates this relationship with her “father.” The ending is sappy, but picture perfect, exactly what you’d want for a girl like Mia. Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto are also excellent playing coworkers in the Rental Family, making the most with their limited screen time. I could watch a prequel just on the two of them pre Brendan Fraser.
The US has really pushed hard to eliminate stigmas around mental health and therapy in recent years, thankfully so. As a further bridge, I would encourage someone to take the mantle and try a service like this. I can see this doing gangbusters in LA, with all the actors over there looking for work…and a little respite from the loneliness of their profession as they try to live their dreams. But until then, if therapy isn’t for you, hop on a flight and get yourself a Conan O’Brien like family to fill that hole in your heart…at least for a little while.