Reconsidering the Meaning of Family, Friendship, and Human Bonds

A dispatch business interwoven with laughter and tears

By IZUMI HASEGAWA,
Hollywood News Wire

“Rental Family,” the second feature film by Japan-born female director Hikari, who is active in Hollywood, tells the story of Phillip, a lonely American actor living in Japan, who experiences a turning point in his life through a new job.

Phillip is played by popular Hollywood actor Brendan Fraser. The legendary actor Hasegawa, with whom Phillip develops a deep friendship, is portrayed by Akira Emoto, while the president of the talent agency Rental Family, to which Phillip belongs, is played by Takehiro Hira.

In Japan, there are actually many companies that dispatch substitutes to act as family members or friends. The author of the book “Human Rental Shop,” which served as the source material for the 2023 Japanese film “Rental × Family,” is a pioneer of family rental services and has been running this kind of dispatch business for nearly 20 years. In addition to mobilizing crowds for events and dispatching audience members, they offer services such as attending weddings in someone’s place, acting as substitute parents or grandparents, visiting graves on behalf of clients, and hospital visits — requests that can make one question conventional morality and common sense.

Presumably, these businesses exist because there is demand, but it’s also possible that because such services are supplied, people begin to think “it’s okay to do this,” and demand increases as a result. There may well be bonds that can only be formed precisely because the person is an outsider, yet as a fellow Japanese, I sometimes feel I can no longer understand Japanese people’s sense of ethics and morality — am I the only one who feels this way? Am I the only one who thinks that the original meaning of weddings, grave visits, and hospital visits is being lost?

In this film, the roles Phillip takes on are varied: funeral attendee, groom at a wedding, companion to an elderly person with dementia, and father figure to a girl from a single-mother household. For each request that might make viewers question common sense or morality, the film carefully provides convincing reasons. And through these acting jobs, the audience is prompted to think deeply about the meaning of family, friendship, and human connection.

Skillfully blending scenes that provoke both laughter and tears, the film leaves you — just like Phillip — with a strangely refreshed feeling when it ends.

There is a scene where Hasegawa and Phillip visit a Shinto shrine and engage in a philosophical exchange about “what lies deep inside the Shinto shrine.” Toward the end of the film, Phillip finds his own answer at a Shinto shrine he visited. As a Shinto priest myself, I occasionally receive the very same question that Phillip asked, and just as Phillip’s answer is not clearly defined, the response really does vary from person to person. Why not discuss with others who have seen the film — about the meaning of family, or the thoughts of those who request these substitute services?

Fraser’s Japanese is so good that after interviews he cheerfully says “Otsukaresama deshita~!” in perfect Japanese. This film makes full use of his uniquely warm and delicate aura.

Of course, Emoto’s overwhelming presence and direct, heart-piercing performance are magnificent, but the one who left the strongest impression was Shannon Mahina Gorman, who plays Mia, the girl for whom Phillip acts as a father substitute. It’s hard to believe this is her proper acting debut — she moved me emotionally again and again. A promising new actress has been born; I look forward to her future work.

“Rental Family” is now playing in theaters across the U.S.