RENTAL FAMILY (Middleburg FF 2025) – Review by Leslie Combemale
In Japan, rental family services are a thing. First offered in the early 90s, these businesses provide stand-ins to play friends, family, and even adversaries in social and private situations. This includes everything from professional mourners at funerals to boyfriends or girlfriends in the presence of nagging parents and whole family units for 30 and 40-somethings who live alone, and a wide range of other scenarios. Hikari, the Japanese co-writer and director of Rental Family, explains these companies make sense in a society where stats show 40% of the adult population struggle with depression, yet mental illness is stigmatized.
In her film, Brendan Fraser plays Philip Vandarploeug, a down-on-his-luck American actor living in Japan who stumbles into working with the Rental Family agency as their “token white guy”. He is reticent at first, feeling like it goes beyond acting into the realm of deceit. He is cast as the father of Mia, a child whose mother needs someone to fill the role to get her into an exclusive private school. He’s also portraying a journalist for a family wanting their patriarch Alzheimers patient Kikuo (played beautifully by beloved Japanese veteran actor Akira Emoto) to have companionship and the safety of constant attention. Things get complicated when Philip gets attached to both Mia and Kikuo, and begins to improvise based on what might make them happiest, rather than sticking to the “script”.
Rental Family has the kind of gentle, consistent tone that teeters between sweet and bittersweet, and it is Brendan Fraser’s heartfelt performance, and his work with key co-stars, that keeps that balance. Hikari and co-screenwriter Stephen Blahut know their way around a character arc, building a story centered on the struggle with loneliness and the need for connection that leads to catharsis for the audience without getting sentimental or maudlin.
The production design, editing, and cinematography all capture both the beauty of natural Japanese landscapes and the frenetic, sometimes sparse sometimes cluttered urban interiors of Tokyo. As usual, composer Jonsi, known for his emotive yet approachable music, creates a cocoon of warmth around the proceedings. This is a night at the movies that will have you calling your loved ones the minute you leave the theater.
4 out of 5 stars
