Back in my college days, I was a TV and Theater Productions major, and I remember we had a workshop class of sorts once a week, and one week, someone came in with a short sketch where one of the professors played an old man whose son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter came for a visit, students playing the rest of the family. The old man and his son get into an argument, but in a twist, the sketch ended with the old man asking his “granddaughter” what her name was and then thanking her for coming by. The author explained that he learned that this was an actual thing in Japan where lonely old folks could hire actors to play their family.
Anyway, I remembered all that when I saw the previews for Rental Family, a movie where Brendan Fraser is an actor living in Japan who does that.
Phillip Vandarploeug (Fraser) is an American actor living in Japan. He mostly seems to do bit parts and TV commercials when he’s sent on a job that he knows nothing about until he learns he’s just supposed to be a mourner at a funeral, and he’s surprised when the dead man, it turns out, isn’t dead. Instead, he was one of many actors hired to play a role for the not-quite-so-dead man, and as explained by Shinji (Takehiro Hira), the man behind the Rental Family company, Phillip has a chance to play roles with real meaning by posing as friends, family members, or a host of other roles for people around Tokyo who need the companionship for one reason or another. Though initially put off by what he sees as a dishonest act, Phillip changes his mind and takes on a variety of roles.
As it is, Phillip has two main roles: he’s to be the absent father to a little girl (Shannon Mahina Gorman) to help her single mom (Shino Shinozaki) get her little girl into a good school while the child has no idea that Phillip isn’t really her father, and to pose as a journalist interviewing an elderly actor (Akira Emoto) whose daughter is concerned has otherwise been forgotten. Phillip, the movie makes clear, does not quite understand Japanese culture, even after living there for seven years, but in the end, he wants to help his clients, perhaps he will do so as he sees fit even as Shinji warns him not to get too close. Where is the line for Phillip and his co-workers, and what happens if they cross it?
I went into this one expecting a feel-good movie, and I basically got that. The movie, to its credit, doesn’t treat Japan like some kind of exotic, far-away place while still showing the beauty of the place. It’s a different place, but the things Phillip sees and experiences are different, but still undeniably human. What Phillip may not get about Japanese culture, he does understand people, and as a lonely man whose only companion in Japan seems to be a sex worker he occasionally hires, it is his perspective that drives the Rental Family company to question its methods. The movie doesn’t condemn the company. It just asks if what they are doing is actually helpful or even healthy for everyone involved.
It helps that an actor like Fraser is in the lead. His genial demeanor is a real asset because you can’t imagine a guy like him doing something like this without anything else but the best of intentions. He’s also larger than most of the rest of the cast, making him stick out even more. Now, I wouldn’t say that the movie is the best of the year, but it is a well-made, feel-good sort of movie, one where you might tear up but in the end, realize these are good people trying to do good by others and learning from each other in the process. Phillip doesn’t get Japanese culture completely, but his American perspective can help to make Rental Family a better company as a result. And you know what? I can get behind something like that.
Grade: B+
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