Rental Family

 Hey folks!

Are you lonely this holiday season? Do you need dinner guests on short notice? Are you and your family not on speaking terms? Well, you can rent someone to fill the void with our Rental Family service! I can tell you all about it through the movie all about it!

Seven years ago, American actor Phillip Vanderploeug (Brendan Fraser) moved to Japan to film a toothpaste commercial. Since then, his personal and professional lives have been stuck in Tokyo. One day, he’s hired to play a “sad American” for what turns out to be a mock funeral. That’s just one service Shinji (Takehiro Hira) provides with his company, Rental Family. Shinji retains Phillip as the “token White guy.”

Phillip’s job is to “sell emotion” to their clients. For one job, he’s a journalist covering retired actor Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto), who is growing senile. For another, he’s helping his “daughter” Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman) get into a major private school. Phillip gets personally drawn into these clients’ lives, which fills his emotional void while he fills theirs. How long can he keep this up?

Director Mitsuyo Yamazaki, professionally known as Hikari, only has one feature film (37 Seconds) and a few shorts to her credit. But chances are, you won’t forget her after this film, which she and 37 Seconds DP Stephen Blahut co-wrote. Its acting is subtle compared to the sentimental and moving score by Jonsi & Alex. That's not to say it gets over-the-top, but those scenes are intentional. In one scene, Shinji plays Yakuza and dresses down a disgraced businessman; he really sells it to the poor guy! Shinji is also involved with one of the film’s best twists.

Best of all, the screenplay lets you understand everyone. Kikuo wants to escape his daughter, Masami’s (Sei Satobu), watchful eye and flee to his hometown. Hitomi (Shino Shinozaki), Mia’s mother, is desperate to secure her daughter’s future. Mia's first reaction to meeting her "father" is to storm off. Phillip’s breeches of ethics are born out of his loneliness and personal regrets. Nobody in this cast is obtuse or unlikeable but are at worst incredibly flawed. Everyone has pretty good chemistry, but Phillip and Mia's relationship is the most delightful. You wouldn't want the worst for any of them.

One of the other significant subplots involves Phillip’s co-worker, Aiko (Mari Yamamoto), who specializes in playing the other woman. She ends up facing the wraths of numerous housewives. One can’t help but question how Shinji would allow this; Phillip, at least, questions it. But I would imagine it's indictive of Shinji's socially awkward professionalism. You’ll definitely cheer inside when she leaves her latest client to his wife’s wrath. She and her co-worker, Kota (Bun Kimura), later get Phillip out of a legal jam, which is Kota’s only significant scene.

There's nothing fake about this movie about fake relationships. Everyone in the cast, especially Fraser, works from a truly amazing screenplay. I didn't expect to feel much from Rental Family, but I felt a lot after its 110 minutes were up. This might be a new holiday classic in the making, even if it's not set during any holidays. There's nothing left to say but to see it soon.