ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

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Rental Family

Movie of the Week 

MOVIE OF THE WEEK January 9, 2026: Team MOTW’s Favorite Oscar Contenders

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , , , , , ,

Movie awards presentation is an industry unto itself. Awards season has expanded in duration to include more than the entire year. It starts in January with awards buzz erupting out of Sundance Film Festival — even before the previous year’s awards season has culminated with the Oscars gala presentation that’s staged in early March. It’s truly a challenge to keep up with the countless award-eligible movies that are released throughout the year or seen at film festivals, and for awards voters, making lists, discussing and advocating for award-worthy titles is a year round preoccupation. At AWFJ, determining our EDA Awards nominees involves elimination of titles in order to reach consensus. But even after consensus is reached, everyone has personal favorites that may or may not have landed on our official list of nominees. This week, Team MOTW members recommend their favorite award contenders for your watch list. Click film titles for links to full reviews.

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Reviews 

RENTAL FAMILY – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , ,

Both the real world and film worlds are no stranger to the rental of actors to impersonate relatives, friends, romantic partners, or colleagues. The actors may attend funerals or weddings, meet for dinners or at bars, or show up at any event when a client needs an individual for any designated role. Japanese director/co-writer Hikari effectively dramatizes this practice in Rental Family as unemployed American actor Phillip Vandarpleog, living in contemporary Japan, must scramble for a job, landing work from a human rental agency.

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Reviews 

RENTAL FAMILY – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , ,

Rental Family proves once again that movies open portals of knowledge about other cultures. Who knew that in Japan there are ‘rental family’ services? A client in Tokyo can hire a performer, usually an out-of-work actor, to play a character in his/hers or someone else’s life. When American ex-pat Philip Vandarploeug interviews with Shinji for the job, he doesn’t believe it either. But, apparently, there’s still a stigma in Japan about seeking psychological therapy so Shinji’s staff function as mental health professionals – and “We need a token white guy,” he explains.

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Interviews 

Hikari on Loneliness, Being Japanese and RENTAL FAMILY – Nadine Whitney interviews (Exclusive!)

Nadine Whitney , , , , ,

Hikari’s tender film Rental Family takes Phillip (Brendan Fraser) an out of work actor living in Japan through the phenomenon of role playing as a real-life character in the lives of Japanese people who require a figure to act as family or friend. At the heart of the film is the epidemic of loneliness and Japan’s difficulties in dealing with mental health and social difference. Hikari, herself, experienced isolation and loneliness when she participated in an exchange program in America. Nadine Whitney speaks with Hikari about reaching out to people to create chosen families.

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Movie of the Week 

MOVIE OF THE WEEK November 21, 2025: RENTAL FAMILY

Jennifer Merin , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The power of human connection is the underlying theme of Japanese writer/director Hikari’s sweetly poignant dramedy Rental Family. Starring Brendan Fraser as a struggling, middle-aged American actor who’s become isolated while hustling for work in Tokyo and ends up taking an unusual (but based in fact!) job to help make ends meet, the film is a timely reminder that we’re all more likely to thrive when we feel seen, heard, and valued by our fellow humans.

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News 

WEEK IN WOMEN: Hikari’s RENTAL FAMILY in Theaters via Searchlight – Brandy McDonnell reports

Brandy McDonnell , , , , ,

Award-winning director Hikari’s Rental Family, starring Oscar winner Brendan Fraser as an American actor in Tokyo who suffers a colossal case of impostor syndrome when he becomes a professional surrogate, opens theatrcally on November 21 via Searchlight Pictures. The film has already scored high ratings at festivals — incuding TIFF, where it premiered — and is garnering much awards buzz. With Rental Family, Hikari, who wrote, directed and produced the film, adds another highly acclaimed title to her steadily growing filmography

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Reviews 

RENTAL FAMILY – Review by Sherin Nicole

Sherin Nicole , , , , , ,

In each vignette, director Hikari and her co-writer, Stephen Blahut, focus on the heart of humanity and who we are by exploring the loneliness that draws us together—seeking connection. In my favorite set of scenes, when Philip (Brendan Fraser) looks out at the people in other apartments across from his, it feels like he’s seeing a mini-multiverse, and he’s imagining how he might fit into each of those worlds. It’s cleverly communicative filmmaking, a symbolic way of alleviating isolation. All of those “boxes” contain different lives, and through the Rental Family service, many lives are tied together.

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Festivals Reviews 

RENTAL FAMILY (Middleburg FF 2025) – Review by Leslie Combemale

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.

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