To say they do things differently in Japan is putting things mildly. All someone needs to do is to take a look at some of their television commercials or clips of their game shows to see that. For people who don’t live in Japan, some of the things they do can be hard to understand.
Phillip (Fraser) has lived in Japan for several years. He’s an actor who takes on multiple roles for a surrogacy agency that helps people by injecting actors into their lives to help them.
The first thing you need to understand is that rental families, or surrogacy agencies, do exist in Japan. In fact, they’ve been around since the 90s, an important factor in enjoying Rental Family a lot more. Like his role in The Whale, Fraser injects the right amount of humour, compassion and emotion into the film. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing the part. It’s his costars however that really steal the show.
Shannon Mahina Gorman plays Mia, who shines in what for many children would be a difficult role. At the other end of the spectrum is Akira Emoto who plays Kikuo Hasegawa, an elderly former actor who is slowly losing his memory. When watching him on the screen, you forget you are watching an actor playing a role.
Rental Family is a heart warming film that has the perfect mix of humor and drama. It doesn’t get sappy, yet will still tug at your heart strings.
- Rated: PG-13
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Release Date: 9/6/2025
- Directed by: Hikari
- Starring: Akira Emoto, Brendan Fraser, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman, Takehiro Hira
- Produced by: Eddie Vaisman, Hikari, Shin Yamaguchi
- Written by: Hikari, Stephen Blahut
- Studio: Domo Arigato Productions, Searchlight Pictures, Sight Unseen Pictures
