Rental Family

I've been curious about this film for a while and it had such an interesting premise to me that I had to see this one. I think this film is absolutely heart wrenching and just throws so much emotional moments towards you that it gets you really close to crying or crying already. Brendan Fraser is just absolutely phenomenal and truly delivered yet another absolutely remarkable performance and the moments between Mia and Kikuo had me absolutely so emotional and really just elevated this film even more for me. The story here is absolutely beautiful and it's really a fresh concept which has you really thinking about the storyline going here and how Hikari truly had a brilliant idea with a beautiful work of cinematography and visuals to deliver this film which elevates it even higher for me. I really love the film delves the audience into more about the Japanese culture as that's something I'm not too knowledge about and I love how the film portrays the culture of Japan and all the beauty's and how you can't uncover all of its secrets even if you lived there for 100 years like the film states. I really love the score for the film as well and there's such beautiful moments when the film relies on the score to help bring out more emotional moments with beautiful and astonishing visuals. I feel like the film was a little predictable but that's not anything bad about the film though I feel like sometimes I could just see where things were headed pretty easily I feel like I didn't mind that due to this incredible and emotional story that were following throughout the movie. It's so emotional and wholesome seeing Brendan Fraser's character of Phillip and how he's trying to just help these people if he can possibly can and how he's going out of his way to make sure these people can have memories that can change them for the better. I honestly just think this movie was absolutely fantastic and it had me balling my eyes out near the end of the film due to how beautiful this story truly was and hats off to Brendan Fraser for another incredible performance. This is definitely worth watching in my opinion for sure.

We saw this at TIFF, including a great Q&A with the director afterward. Brendan Fraser is fantastic, as are several of the Japanese actors. The basic premise - that people can be rented to act as substitute friends or family - was shocking to us but is evidently a real part of Japanese culture. While there are numerous minor story arcs, two main ones are each quite compelling; one involving a fatherless girl, and another a fading old man. Their stories will make you both smile and weep.

Saw this film at the Virginia Film Festival, and it such a beatifully done film. The touching theme of connections between people and those who are missing something.

Brendan Fraser's performance was masterful that only he could have brought to this project.

Hikari brings together the beauty of human connection and Tokyo in such an amazing way in this film.

Rental Family is a film that just recently made it onto my radar, and I'm so glad it did. I'll always give a film starring Brendan Fraser a chance. I love him and have so much respect for his work. Once again taking on a dramatic role, Fraser proves his acting abilities here with a quiet, emotional performance that truly anchors the story. The film centers around Phillip (Fraser), a struggling actor living in Tokyo who takes a job at a "rental family" agency, where his work involves pretending to be someone in a stranger's life.

Most of the film focuses on Phillip's assignment as the father to a young girl who has never met her real dad, and it's through this relationship that the story finds its emotional core. There are other subplots as well, but I won't get into those details here. What really stood out to me were the moments of genuine emotion. There were scenes that had my eyes welling up, in the best way possible. The premise could have easily come across as something cheesy or sentimental, like a made-for-TV movie, but director Hikari brings a sense of maturity, charm, and humor that makes it feel grounded and authentic.

I never watched Hikari's show Beef on Netflix, though I've heard great things about it, and now I see why she's so highly regarded. This is a very talented filmmaker with a strong sense of empathy and visual storytelling, and Rental Family further proves her skill. I especially appreciated how the film explores the moral complexities of Phillip's job - a profession that actually exists in real life. There's a fascinating gray area here about whether what he's doing is right or wrong, and the film doesn't shy away from asking those difficult questions.

If I had one minor critique, it's that there are a couple of moments that, while effective, feel a bit emotionally manipulative - like the filmmakers were pushing a little too hard to make the audience feel something. That said, those instances are rare, and Rental Family still worked for me about 95% of the time. It's a heartfelt, thought-provoking, and beautifully made film that ranks among the best I've seen in 2025. When it hits theaters, I highly recommend giving it a watch.

Almost a perfect movie, I absolutely loved it. I knew nothing about the movie going in, and it was so much fun thinking about the moral implications of what was going on, and thinking about the choices the characters make and about how things would unfold over the course of the movie. The movie has no weak spots in my eyes, I would have changed almost nothing about the film, and I don't want to give anything away so I wont mention what I would have changed but the movie is still a wow from me and wholly earns a 10/10 score.