Rental Family Review

Rental Family is Hikari’s follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut, 37 Seconds, and it shows the Japanese filmmaker can make something that can appeal to both Japanese and Western audiences.

Philip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser) is an American actor who has lived in Japan for ten years. Philip gets offered an unusual job when he meets Shinji (Takehiro Hira), the owner of Rental Family. Shinji’s offers experiences, such as weddings, funerals, and friendship, and Philip gets to be the token white guy. Two of Philip’s important clients end up being Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), a mixed-race girl who needs a fake father so she can apply to a private school, and Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto), a retired actor suffering from dementia.

Rental Family has turned out to be a crowd-pleaser. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, was selected by major film festivals like Rome, Tokyo, and Stockholm, and earned awards and nominations from many other festivals and organisations. It earned an A grade from CinemaScore audiences and positive scores on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, and Letterboxd. I saw it at an Odeon Unseen screening, and the audience I was with was captivated by it.

It was a lovely little film, which was remarkable considering the premise could have been sad or creepy. It was a film about the connections being made. The people who used the service wanted to feel like they mattered or save face in some way. The film showed that Japan was a conservative society, where tradition and family were highly valued. The Rental Family service enabled people to circumvent social norms, such as prejudice against single parents, and allowed families to maintain their bonds. As Shinji stated, someone could live in Japan for a hundred years and still not fully understand the country. There was also a darker element to why people used the service since psychiatric treatment was stigmatised in Japan, so it gave clients an outlet.

Even though Philip was hired to play various roles, he ended up getting close to his clients. Kikuo acted as a replacement father for Philip, who had a poor relationship with his actual father. The elderly actor gave the American sage advice, whilst Philip helped Kikuo fulfil his wishes. Whilst Mia was the daughter Philip never had. The pair-bonded, and Philip gave her fatherly advice and support, even though it meant a young girl was calling a strange man. Rental Family looks at the issue of isolation and loneliness. Not only was Philip providing companionship to others, but he was also gaining it himself, being a single man in a small apartment and spying on people in the building opposite. It hits hard considering the loneliness epidemic affecting many advanced economies.

Rental Family was a genuinely funny film. It was based on cultural clashes and extraordinary situations. Philip’s first job was going to a funeral, which led to an embarrassing entrance before an unusual twist. There was a lot of wit throughout the film, and it was helped by the excellent cast. Most of the characters were likeable even when they did questionable actions. Shannon Mahina Gorman was fantastic as the young girl getting to know her ‘father’, and she’s someone to watch out for.

Rental Family was a simply nice, good-natured film. It was a warm and witty film that was able to overcome some dodgy aspects.