Rental Family by Hikari (2025)
American actor Phillip Vanderploeg has been living in Tokyo for a long time, but to date, his only major role has been a silly-yet-beloved toothpaste commercial that he starred in years ago. Desperate for work, he signs on with Rental Family, an agency that provides actors who serve as stand-in friends and family for strangers. One of his first gigs as the agency’s “token white guy” is to “star” as the long-lost father of a young girl whose mother believe that having a complete family will improve the girl’s chances of getting into a prestigious school. Later, he’s hired to “star” as a film writer in order to encourage an aging actor long past his prime. Initially reluctant, Phillip soon finds himself drawn into these people’s lives even as he struggles with the dishonesty of it all. Rental Family’s first half is pleasant enough, though a bit cloying at times, and I was worried that’s where the film was going to stay. Thankfully, its second half takes a slightly darker turn as the emptiness of hiring stand-in actors is explored. (One of Phillip’s fellow actors, a woman named Aiko, is often hired by cheating husbands to appear as their mistress, exposing her to insult and abuse.) That was when the film really started to affect me. Overall, Rental Family is a charming dramedy with some truly sweet moments. And not surprisingly, it made me and my wife desperate to visit Japan again.
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