Rental Family: Brendan Fraser Anchors a Tale of Actors in Japan Whose Roles Offer Real-Life Help
By Karen Gordon
B plus
The world is a tough place these days. There is an epidemic of loneliness and social media that is destroying our ability to discern truth from lies, our empathy and, for a lot of people, our sense of meaning.
And into that wearying reality, comes the movie Rental Family, co-written and directed by Hikari, a soft, sentimental, gentle movie that doesn’t ask much of its audience, but can, if only momentarily, provide a salve for the spirit.
It has a really solid cast, and at the center of it is yet another beautiful performance by Brendan Fraser.
Shannon Gorman and “father” Brendan Fraser in Rental Family.
Philip (Fraser) is an American actor who has been living in Tokyo for seven years, ever since he landed a job as the lead character in a now famous toothpaste commercial. He never left, and now lives alone very simply, while going to auditions looking for that next big job.
Phillip doesn’t give off the air of being a lost soul, but there is an element of loneliness about his life.
His agent calls with a last minute job, to play the role of ‘sad American’ with no explanation about the production. When he shows up he discovers that he’s playing the part in a real life situation, of sorts. A man has set up his own funeral so he can hear the tributes, and be surrounded by people who are sad at his death.
At the end of the event, Philip meets Shinji Tada (Takehiro Hira) , the man whose company, Rental Family, hired him. Understandably, Phillip is puzzled about what he just sat through.
Shinji explains that in Japan, there is a stigma against people who suffer from mental health issues, or who want or need to seek help for their problems. So people often suffer alone. The way the culture has dealt with that has created an entire industry.
There are companies, like his, that arrange for people to hire a professional actor to play a specific role in their lives, or the lives of someone else, a family member or friend, for a short time.
And sure, to outsiders it is a fake situation, but Shinji says this role playing has therapeutic value.. The actors, in playing their roles, provide emotional experiences for the people. Even when the person knows they’re with an actor, they can get a sense of a feeling they’re missing, that allows them to temporarily fill a gap in their lives, which can ultimately be transformative.
In other situations, people will hire an actor to play a part to help a family member achieve something, and who may never know that the person they’re spending time with is an actor. (It is important to note that the rental family business is a real phenomenon in Japan).
As Aika (Mari Yamamoto), one of the company’s permanent staffers says to Philip “Sometimes all we need is for someone to look us in the eye and tell us we exist.”
Shinji and his team, Aiko and Kota (Bun Kimura) book clients and play some of the roles themselves. But they need a white American male, and so Phillip is offered a job.
He balks at first, but agrees to try it out. His first job plunges him into the deep end, playing the role of a groom, and actually getting married - or rather, going through with a fake wedding ceremony, arranged by the bride for her reasons, which are revealed when the ceremony is over. It gives Phillip a better idea of how the job helps people in this culture that is both ultra-modern, and ultra-traditional.
Once Phillip accepts that he won’t completely understand the cultural nuances, he continues to work with Shinji and the team and starts to find something interesting is happening for him. Phillip is naturally empathetic and that quality is being drawn out of him in this work. He not only finds himself enjoying the roles he’s playing and the people he’s meeting, but how these ‘acting’ jobs are helping the clients in positive ways. They’re quietly changing him as well.
But, of course, in human affairs, even with professional parameters, there will be complications. Some of the people who hire Phillip, no matter how well intentioned, haven’t really thought through the wild card in this business of fakery: how deeper ties can evolve quite naturally between two people.
That happens in two roles that Phillip has taken on: when he’s hired by a single mother to temporarily play the American father of a young girl, Mia (Shannon Gorman), and when he is hired by the daughter of a famous film actor, Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto), who has been diagnosed with Alzhiemers, to pose as a journalist writing a retrospective.
Each of those situations has unintended consequences, and the fall-out affects Phillip, the families and also affects the life and work of Shinji, Aiko and Kota.
None of this is overplayed in Rental Family. Hikari, who has directed episodes of television shows like Beef and Tokyo Vice, is skilled in focusing on character, and letting the relationships develop. She isn't interested in hitting us over the head with her ideas, or rushing us to a giant dramatic crescendo.
In an industry that boils down to fake relationships, she, perhaps incredibly, keeps the emotions real, the tone gentle, and lets the stories of the various characters engage or enchant us. The movie itself isn't overly complex. It doesn't ask that we dig into the subtext, and yet it's not shallow or disposable. And some of that is in the performances.
The movie is beautifully cast, and everyone brings something essential to the table in the film.
But in such a quiet film, what makes it really special is Brendan Fraser. It’s a performance that radiates vulnerability and empathy and such a deep well of kindness that it is like medicine.
His performance is so light on its feet and yet so sincere and truthful that it's a salve for the soul. It’s an antidote to a short attention span, ego-driven, competitive and too often nasty culture that pushes us forward, and has removed so many of us from the things that give us a sense that we have a purpose here.
In the lightest way, Rental Family suggests that we can find ours too, if we’re willing to be open to it.
Rental Family. Directed by Hkari, screenplay by Hikari and Stephen Blahut, starring Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Kimura Bun, Shannon Gorman, Akira Emoto. In theatres Friday, November 21.