Brendan Fraser Plays Strange, Touching Role in ‘Rental Family’

By Yasuko Onda / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

10:30 JST, February 20, 2026

“Rental Family,” a Japanese-U.S. film set in contemporary Tokyo with Osaka-born, internationally acclaimed director Hikari at the helm and Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser as the lead actor, has numerous interesting elements.

The protagonist, Phillip, is a no-name actor who moved to Japan seven years prior after appearing in a Japanese toothpaste commercial. He has had no luck with good roles since until one day, he receives a strange job offer — playing stand-in roles, such as a family member or a friend, for clients, for a short period of time. According to Tada, played by Takehiro Hira, who runs a company specializing in this business, there is a certain demand for white males in this job. Although Phillip has moral qualms about doing this kind of work at Tada’s company, Rental Family, he starts taking on the stand-in assignments.

A peculiar business that taps into a stranger’s life and the people in Japan who need it — OK, this is all very interesting. However, this is not a film telling the story of a foreigner wandering into a strange world.

Obviously, since the story is set in Japan, the film depicts some idiosyncratic culture of the country as well as some customary practices that even Japanese people find hard to understand. For example, Phillip is asked by the mother of a girl called Mia, played by Shannon Mahina Gorman, to play the role of her father without revealing that he isn’t actually her real father. Mia lives with her mother, but the mother needs to pretend for the sake of a high-profile private school that Mia is trying to enter, that her daughter is living with both her parents as the school considers it important. Strange, isn’t it? But absurd rules exist in any society. Hikari neatly depicts these situations in Japan, and on top of that, she delves into a human drama that sprawls and spreads beyond Japan into something universally understood. The various scenery and sights of people’s lives in Japan, which Phillip views through his apartment window, are deeply entwined with the story as well.

Phillip and the other members of Rental Family work by pretending to be someone else or being someone who does not exist. Their business mainly stands as a way to smooth out the rough edges of people’s relationships, yet it sometimes functions to fill a void in the client’s heart. Phillip tries hard to do his best in fulfilling the clients’ hearts. He is playing a fictional role, but his feelings are true. That very much resembles what an actor does and the essence of a story. In a way, this film is a very approachable metafiction.

Fraser is excellent in his role, appearing as if he has lived in Japan for several years. One even feels that there is actually a pure, humble and clumsy person like Phillip somewhere in Tokyo. His scenes with the great Japanese actor Akira Emoto, as well as with talented young actor Gorman, are very touching as well.

The film’s release date in Japan is Feb. 27.