"delicately explores the universal need for connection and the pervasive loneliness of modern life"

Written and Directed by Japanese filmmaker Hikari, Rental Family is a tender and deeply emotional exploration of human connection, ordinary life, and the search for belonging.

Philip (Brendan Fraser) is an American actor who has lived in Japan for seven years but has never truly found his place. After a string of failed auditions, he unexpectedly lands a role playing an American mourner at a funeral. This unconventional job leads him to an unexpected new career at a rental family agency—a company that hires actors to fill emotional voids in people’s lives.

Through this work, Philip begins to confront his own struggles. As he helps others create temporary connections, he finally begins to build his own sense of belonging in a society that once seemed to reject him.

Rental Family delicately explores the universal need for connection and the pervasive loneliness of modern life. Japan emerges here as a land of fascinating contrasts: steeped in tradition, wary of difference, open about sexuality yet restrained in emotional expression. Hikari skillfully blends comedy and drama, painting a respectful and nuanced portrait of her homeland, revealing both its beauty and its sociological complexities.

Fraser is the perfect choice to play Philip—a man who has always felt in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even after years in Tokyo, he remains an outsider, often cast as a token Westerner. But through his work at the rental family company, he discovers unexpected parallels between his own life and the stories of those he meets: a woman faking a marriage to a white man to protect her queer relationship, a daughter hiring a fake journalist to give her dying father a renewed sense of purpose, and a mother employing a father figure to help her daughter get into an elite school.

These vignettes reveal what makes us human: our need for connection, acceptance, and a sense of belonging. They also reflect how modern society—despite technological interconnectedness—often pushes individuals into isolation.

Rental Family is a poignant, nuanced exploration of what it means to be human. In a world where consumerism and social pressures encourage detachment, the film reminds us that love, connection, and community are essential to truly thrive.