Searchlight Pictures presents “Rental Family,” directed and produced by Hikari (“Beef,” “Tokyo Vice,” “37 Seconds”) with a screenplay by Hikari and Stephen Blahut (“37 Seconds”), in theaters nationwide on Nov. 21.
The film stars Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser (“The Whale,” “The Mummy,” “Encino Man”) with a supporting cast that includes Emmy nominee Takehiro Hira (“Shogun”), Mari Yamamoto (“Pachinko,” “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”), newcomer Shannon Mahina Gorman, and Akira Emoto (“Lovers Lost,” “Shin Godzilla,” “Dr. Akagi”).
Set in modern-day Tokyo, “Rental Family” follows an American actor (Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers.
As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.
Japan has one of the most developed rental family markets, often catering to the country’s unique cultural pressures around family image, conformity, and loneliness. The film uses an unconventional occupation to explore universal stories about connection that make people feel seen, heard and validated.
The rental family industry offers paid actors who pose as family members, friends, romantic partners, or companions for specific situations. Clients hire actors to fulfill emotional or social roles — like pretending to be a spouse at a family gathering, a father for a child’s school event, or a friend to help individuals cope with feelings of grief, past regret and familial conflict.
The producers are Eddie Vaisman (“Wildlife,” “A Thousand and One,” “Bad Education”), Julia Lebedev (“Dear White People,” “Bad Education”), and Shin Yamaguchi (“37 Seconds,” “Spirit World”).
Run time: 1 hour, 50 minutes. Rated PG-13.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
Born in Osaka, Hikari holds a BSc in theater arts, dance and fine arts from Southern Utah University and a master’s degree in film and television from the University of Southern California. She directed the short films “Naya Din” (2007), “Tsuyako” (2011), “A Better Tomorrow” (2013), “Can & Sulochan” (2014), and “Where We Begin” (2015), as well as her debut feature, “37 Seconds” (2019), which premiered at TIFF.