Rental Family

We’ve all seen these movies before. It’s a story as familiar as any other. The white, lonely American in Japan. We see Japanese culture through their lens, as they struggle through the complex social landscape, swallowed by a city that’s large, indifferent, and beautiful all at once. Unlike say, Lost in Translation, Rental Family isn’t about the friendship between two souls longing for connection; it’s about the inherent connection that readily exists between people. Brendan Fraser plays Phillip Vanderploeg, an American actor who’s been living in Japan for seven years. He’s made some recognizable stuff–a toothpaste commercial everyone seems to remember. But he finds steady work for a small company led by a handful of actors called Rental Family, who rent themselves out to people who need an actor, but not on stage, TV or film. They need these actors in life. 

Philip’s first role, one that tries his patience and his soul, is in pretending to marry a young Japanese woman, which entails introducing himself to her family and staging a full wedding production. He has a panic attack before the event, realizing all the lies he’s telling, how awful and untruthful and dishonest the whole situation is. His coworker, Aiko (Mari Yamamoto) reminds him that without this performance, this young girl will not be free to pursue her real happiness, in leaving Japan and eloping with another woman, something her family would never approve of. What they’re doing isn’t a deceitful lie, she explains, it’s a way to give everyone the happy ending that they need.

What I liked best about Rental Family was its understanding of how having a job actually works. In a lesser film, Phillip would have one job after the setup, which would then become the entire plot. Instead, he has several clients that he must balance and manage. He must pretend to be the father of a young girl who never knew her real dad, and that makes up the main storyline: how they grow attached, and how he has to come to terms with his overattachment. In the same day, he must also find time to pretend to be a writer doing a piece on an aging actor who’s faded from the spotlight, or squeeze in some time to play video games with an isolated shut-in.

Phillip’s common theme with all of his clients is that he grows too attached, too close to them, and in pulling back, he realizes the horror of merely pretending to be close to them. The beauty of Rental Family is in how it posits that people, in general, inherently want to forge a connection, and all they really need is a convenient excuse to establish that closeness. The transactional relationship eases the burden of relying solely on emotion. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the only person Phillip has in his life that he can share moments of intimacy with is a sex worker–someone transactional that he pays for the service of. She tells him that they’re similar, that she services clients’ physical needs, while he services their emotional needs, but in truth, they both service their clients’ emotional state. 

Rental Family is blunt and formulaic in how the story plays out, and a lot of things we just know we’re going to see do come to pass. But, so what? It’s a sincere story anchored by a fantastic lead performance by Fraser, who’s not a fish out of water, but a fish in a sea he’s spent years trying to understand, and only just now knows he only has enough understanding to realize how much he has yet to learn. There’s an honesty to the film that’s refreshing in how it bears itself. The human soul is a complex mechanism, messy in how it balances beauty and horror all at once, conflicting emotions all competing for what they believe to be the greater good. When Phillip explains to the little girl, who believes she’s his daughter, why adults tell so many lies, he doesn’t tiptoe around it, and these moments of honesty are what make this story special.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
Rental Family arrives on Blu-ray in a single-disc release, housed in a standard case with a removable slipcover, both containing identical cover artwork. Inside the case is a slip with a code that can be used for redemption on digital streaming platforms like Movies Anywhere.

Rental Family was shot digitally by Takur? Ishizaka and is presented in 1080p high-definition video for this release. It largely looks terrific. I think in shooting a movie, it’s important to select the right format for its look and feel–some movies which were shot on film are so filmic in their realization that they’d look silly if rendered digitally. Similarly, a movie like Rental Family really benefits from its digital cinematographic process–the almost-too-clean aesthetic throughout gives it a dreamlike quality. A brightly-lit train, among a landscape of other lights, glaring in varying degrees of visibility, with a night sky of deep, pitch blacks, is something that could only exist in this format. Details throughout are sharp, with excellent contrast, and colors brilliantly pop.

On the audio front, viewers are treated to an immersive 5.1 surround mix, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. Most of the surround activity is in the musical score by Jónsi and Alex Somers (of Sigur Rós), which playfully and ethereally dances on the satellite speakers, a score that heightens the delicate beauty of the story we’re watching unfold. While this is a front-heavy presentation, the rear of the soundstage does see occasional atmospheric activity, such as the hustle-and-bustle of a crowded street fair. Dialogue activity is prioritized throughout and comes through cleanly and clearly with crystal clarity.

Like most new physical media releases, Rental Family is unfortunately threadbare in its supplemental features, boasting just the two features listed:

• Rental Family Revealed (HD 10:34) - A behind-the-scenes featurette looking at the making of the film
• Deleted/Extended Scenes (HD 17:00)

Rental Family is a rarity for films, a story that allows itself to be vulnerable, without hiding behind a veneer of irony or sarcasm. If that story veers dangerously close to Cheesetown from time to time, so be it–the sincerity of it keeps it from ever overindulging itself into genuine schmaltz. Brendan Fraser, a terrific actor, turns in one of his best performances as someone who feels himself succeeding at something for the first time in years, and it awakens a passion in him. Hikari directs the story with grace and wit, but also with compassion for all of the characters that dwell within the screen’s frame. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great, with a couple of decent special features to make your way through. Rental Family is Highly Recommended.