Rental Family

Hikari, 2026, Colour, Japanese and English with English subtitles, 109′ mins, Certificate: 12 

There are some films that sneak up on you. Weird and wonderful in the most unexpected ways, they quietly seep into your consciousness, take root in your thoughts and cause a kaleidoscope of emotions. As you watch them, but also as you often, purposefully recall them.

And there are some words, in every language I am sure, uniquely perfect in describing their complicated meaning. Yet they are difficult to accurately translate and consequently rarely if ever used outside the culture or the country they originated in.

Rental Family, by the Japanese actress and director Hikari (known internationally for her work in the Netflix acclaimed series Beef), is one of the former. It follows Philip (Brendan Fraser), an American actor stranded in modern day Tokyo, in his journey of self-discovery, of finding purpose and belonging, through an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers.

Inspired by this controversial but aplenty and very real in Japan type of agencies, it is delicately balanced between the – both inevitable – drama and comedy arising from Philip’s predicament as he tries to navigate the codes and practices of his work.

It is anchored in Fraser’s honest, subtly nuanced performance, supported by an equally brilliant cast (the enigmatic Mari Yamamoto and the newcomer Shanon Mahina Gorman are stand-outs). And it remains unsettled, leaving the dialogue with its audience open, as it bears witness to the complexities of the human condition within the every day, urban, mostly beautiful but often claustrophobic, realities of an anything but touristic Tokyo.

The Greek word for actor, “ithopoiós”, is one of the above mentioned perfectly distinct words. It literally translates to ethos-creator or moral-maker. And is surprisingly pertinent here in weird and wonderful ways.

It applies to the ethos of the Japanese culture that prioritises the community instead of the individual when God-like authoring the rules of a “proper” way of life. It applies to Philip’s humble, riddled with self-doubts, at times hilarious, effort to find the morality in his new gig and make it work not only for his clients, but also for himself.

And last, but not least, it’s an alien word making sense of an alien culture, voiding the distance between languages, customs and places. We are all humans after all. Far away and yet, so close.

So, don’t get lost in translation. Join us in this big little movie that revels in the quiet beauty of human connection.