2019, Werner Herzog – of “” I think the common denominator in the universe is not harmony; But chaos, hostility and murder “Herzogs – made a scriptful film about the spread of Rental family Services in modern Japan. With the title ”Family Romance, LLC,“It tells the story of a local actor who has been hired to be the father of a 12-year-old girl who no longer remembers her real father; over time, the boundary between performance and reality blurs to the point that the protagonist suffers from an existential crisis that leads to him asking if it is born since they were born. film Ends with the actor hiding for his own child, his sense of himself forever is destabilized as a result of the other roles he played.
This may surprise you to hear, but Hikari’s “Rental Family” – a sweet and twinkly searchlight drama by the lead role Brendan phrases Like a middle-aged American Sad Sack who moved to Tokyo for a toothpaste advertising, just to spend the next seven years playing the white guy in a series of unnoticed project-developed a little differently. This is one nice Film: The type that is lit lighter than a dentist office, scored by the singer to Sigur Rós (together with Alex Somers) and aimed at a heart -closing conclusion on empathy, isolation and the power that we must all affect each other’s lives. Its If The harsh areas of being human, but it only shows a passing interest in exploring them.
For all its soft and fuzziness, however, “rental family” is no less honest than Herzog’s film where it is important – it only takes a more tree way to reach the ecstatic truth. And in this case, a small eyeroll-inducing bullshit goes a long way. Known for “37 seconds” and her excellent work with “Tokyo vice”, Hikari may be for a simple storyteller to indulge in everyone explicitly self-reflexiva Shenanigans, but it is something to say for emotional manipulation in connection with a movie that celebrates the fact that emotion and relationships are as real as the faith, that we are investing in them, that we are investing in them, that we invest in
A narrative difference between “Rental Family” and “Family Romance, LLC”: Here comes the Coffin stuff at the beginning of the film. Conveniently apologizes to people instead of being sad to themselves, Phil Vandarploeg (phrases) is first introduced late to an audition, and the next time we see him he literally plays a tree. He does not seem to have any loved ones or hobbies, and his only “friend” is a bubbling sex worker who returns throughout the movie to help Phil know Kayfabe intimacy he creates for his own clientele. (I don’t remember the last time a nice The American-ish movie showed such a positive and dignified perspective on sex work).
So when Phil is hired – without any kind of heads up – to play a sadness at the funeral of a man who actually still lives, we have a vague feeling why he is tempted to lie in the coffin for a moment after the service is over. Don’t worry, Phil! In sharp contrast to Herzog’s version, this will be the story of someone who finds their way back To reality and to meaningfully participate in life, whether it is his life or someone else’s.
Confused and fascinated by his gig as a paid guest at a hollow funeral (probably the most interesting and meaningful actor job he has had in a long time), is Phil as the latest full -time employee in the rental family, which is one of the 300 companies of its kind in Japan. People are lonely, mental health is stigmatized and – in a country where vending machines sell everything from corn chowder to used lingerie – why shouldn’t you be able to buy double happiness?
There’s More Than A Hint of Irony to Rental Family’s Slogan (“Providing True Happiness”), But they’re Great If You Want Some to Clap For You at Karaoke, Come Over To Your House To Play A Co-Oop Video Watch-in The Course of A Full Traditional Shinto Wedding So Your Small-Minded Parents Don’t Know That You’re a Lesbian Who’s Moving Halfway Around The World To Be With Another Woman.
Phil performs all three roles under the “rental family”, no one is technically difficult or morally unhealthy.
During the process, he even forms a relationship with his boss Shinji (Takehiro Hira), and a somewhat knit band with his beautiful co-worker Aiko (Mari Yamamoto), who has hired for all kinds of female companions. Things only get complicated for Phil when a mother (Shino Shinozaki) assignment him to play the father whom her adorable 11-year-old daughter has never met. The girl’s name is Mia (Shannon Gorman), she is half white, and she is guilty of a family interview at the type of prestigious average school that will determine her entire future. Mom causes Mia to have a better chance of coming in if her parents participate in the interview as a united front, and about Mia – who is not Told that Phil is just an actor – gets to know what it’s like to have a father for a few weeks, well then the better.
This is almost objectively terrible parenting from her mother’s part, of course, as-best fall-Mia will have to lose her “father” again when Phil’s contract expires. But the relationship that Phil and Mia will share is sweet enough to abolish the anti-logic in its design and What does that woman think? Of all, fed into the film’s curious ambivalence towards the service that Phil’s Company provides. That ambivalence proves to be inevitably something of a performance to himself (Spoiler Alert: “Rent Family” is not a fingering removal of a niche Japanese industry), but Hikari wrestles with the complications of Phil’s job in good faith, and for all her film’s hand -holding sentiment Sentimentality, she makes a real effort to recognize how the fun playing in all other lives, and for all her film’s hand -holding sentimentality, she makes a real effort to recognize how the fun playing in all other lives, and for all her film’s hand -holding sentiment Funny playing in each other’s lives can be confused.
Mercifully, Gaijin Of all, not used to stab fun at Japanese customs or to raise an eyebrows at the country’s unorthodox solution to the social crisis. The fact that Phil is an outsider – and quite visible – gives extra weight to the idea that people can always hope to replace themselves as they move through this life and to the related view that most of us are simply in need of an audience (and willing to go anywhere to find one).
These two ideas are most explicitly Brahed together under a sub-plan where the family of an aging and half-forgotten Japanese actor (Akira Emoto as Kikuo) hires Phil to be “a movie journalist” who is interested in the old man’s story-to offer the actor one last gasp before he forgets. The thread of history extends much longer than it needs to be, and “rental family” is in some way generally over -draws, although none of its scenes are given even the slightest chance of breathing; Heavy in circumstances and easily in the context, Hikari’s script tells almost nothing about who Phil was before he came to Japan in search of other parts to play.
It is as it can, Kikuo’s saga is based on an influencing gracenot that meaningfully centers the film on the perception that damage is better split than buried; That it is better to place it in a living ship than to ditch it in a hole somewhere. Fraser embodies that truth too well.
A lovable transparent actor whose One hyper-readable feeling at a time The approach made him a perfect accomplice for what Darren Aronofsky went on with “The Whale”, phrases play every scene in “Rental Family” as if he suffers from a pain he does not know how to hide. His smile is a wince, Hans Wince is an open wound, and his wounds seem to go so deep that the movie doesn’t have the heart to even tell them what they are.
It is impossible to look at Fraser’s turn without thinking about the various injuries he has suffered during his career (physical and otherwise), and the extra -textual layer of personal history goes a long way towards wiping out the signed character he is inhabited here. His transparent screen persons provide a similar advantage, as it allows Phil’s services to perfectly divide the difference between reality in his connection and the artificity of his influence. His relationship with Mia feels real as can be and glossy Fake at once, which is just as good in a mild little movie that recognizes truth and performance as two sides of the same coin.
Rating: B-
“Rental Family” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2025. Searchlight Pictures release it in theaters on Friday 21 November.
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