Standing six feet four inches tall and known for his genuine warmth and kindness, Brendan Fraser is called “the gentle giant of Hollywood.” In Rental Family, his character’s sensitive nature flirts with a mix of comedy and concern. Staged in Japan but voiced almost entirely in English, this unpredictable tale is directed and co-written by Japanese director Hikari, whose substantial resume includes Memoirs of a Geisha. The film’s title might sound like a classified ad—and could easily be one in Japan. “Rental Family” is actually the name of the agency that recruits Phillip, played by Brendan Fraser. We’ll come back to this, please stand by.
Phillip is an American who has been earning a living playing minor movie roles, which seem more available in Japan than Hollywood. Having lived in Japan for seven years, Phillip earns a humble but reliable income from the film industry and has even scored a little notoriety for a long-running TV ad in which he posed as a mighty tube of toothpaste.
This film is in English, but you’ll hear moments when Fraser, as Phillip, converses in fluent Japanese. With the aid of a coach, Fraser memorized his Japanese exchanges and speaks almost like a native, since mimicking sounds is one of his talents.
So one day, Phillip gets an offer from a casting agency unrelated to the film industry. The Rental Family agency caters to individuals and families who need to hire someone to pose as a real person for a particular purpose or occasion—as a friend, spouse, sibling, offspring, groom, journalist, or even a mourner at a funeral. And playing the role, which could last an hour, a day, a week, or longer, seems to pay well, which would suggest the wealth of the hiring party. The service appears to be employed by those who want to make an impression and can pay the fee.
Shinji (Takehiro Hira), the owner of the Rental Family agency, tries to recruit Phillip, explaining that there is a well-paid opportunity for Americans to fill these hired roles. When Phillip hesitates, Shinji assures him that their fine agency is selling emotion, not people. And that role-play does not mean being that person, it means connecting people to what is missing. (Hmmm . . .)
As it turns out, this industry is all too real in Japan, decades old and still thriving, even though it provides a make-believe solution to personal or family issues. When Phillip asks why families don’t turn to therapy or other means to sort out their problems and differences, Shinji replies that, unlike in America, counseling and mental issues have a stigma in Japan. So a hired stand-in is the acceptable way to go.
With mixed feelings, Phillip ventures into the “twilight zone” of posing as a person he doesn’t know—a groom, to be specific, for a fiancé and a family he’s never met. In his head he’s in trial mode, wrestling with the morality of impersonation and a concern about misleading people, especially children.
Rental Family does have its humorous moments and a light tone. But the trajectory for Phillip flows toward realization—testing his new job to see if his assignment squares with his conscience. Brendan Fraser knows how to fill a role, and not just because of his physical stature and good looks. He assumes his character so naturally that we might forget this is just a movie. While renting out stand-ins is standard practice in several countries, it’s all new to us in the Western hemisphere. As Phillip, Fraser chugs along, gently pulling us through this uncharted tale without a compass, revealing the values of a far-away society whose routine practices might give us pause. (Just as our American standards and practices would make the Japanese roll their eyes.) Rental Family is an outside-the-box tale that takes us where Phillip wants it to go. And because it’s Brendan Fraser, we sign on for the ride.
“Rental Family” is streaming on several services.