Finding Family in a Performance: What 'Rental Family' Reveals About Modern Connection

In an era when loneliness has become almost normalized, director Hikari's debut feature film "Rental Family" arrives as a quiet but profound meditation on what family means in contemporary society. Starring Brendan Fraser, this U.S.-Japan co-production premiering in theaters on November 21st offers more than entertainment—it presents a cultural mirror that forces us to examine how we construct meaning, belonging, and authenticity in an increasingly fragmented world.​

The Premise Behind the Metaphor

The film follows Phillip, a struggling American actor living in Tokyo who discovers an unusual vocation: he rents himself out to play family members in other people's lives. On its surface, this premise might seem exploitative or maudlin, a gimmick trading on emotional vulnerability. But Hikari's tender direction and thoughtful script transform this premise into something far more resonant. The film neither belittles nor fetishizes the cultural differences between its American protagonist and Japanese setting; instead, it portrays everyone as playing a role of some sort, all stumbling in their efforts to find connection.​

Remarkably, the rental family business depicted in the film is not merely fictional invention but rather an exploration of a real and growing phenomenon in contemporary Japan. Known as "fake family rental" or similar services, these businesses emerged in response to distinctive Japanese cultural pressures and social anxieties. In a society where maintaining appearances and fulfilling expected social roles carries profound weight, individuals and families sometimes turn to these services to address gaps in their social structures—hiring someone to pose as a family member at important events, to provide companionship to elderly relatives, or to fill the role of a missing child or spouse at family gatherings. This practice reflects both Japan's aging population and the increasing fragmentation of traditional family structures, as younger generations move away from their hometowns for work and career opportunities, leaving older relatives isolated. The existence of such services speaks to the deep human need for family presence and connection, even when that presence must be purchased and orchestrated.​

Rental Family Movie Poster

Performance and Authenticity in the Digital Age

What makes "Rental Family" particularly timely is how it grapples with authenticity and performance in our hyper-connected yet profoundly isolated age. The rental family service depicted in the film addresses a genuine Japanese phenomenon born from specific cultural pressures: the need to maintain social appearances, to present a complete family unit to the world, to fulfill roles regardless of emotional capacity. Yet this Japanese practice speaks to something far more universal than a cultural curiosity. In Western culture, we engage in our own forms of performance and emotional rent-seeking—through curated social media personas, strategic networking, and carefully constructed versions of ourselves we present to different audiences. Hikari's film suggests that the line between authentic feeling and performed emotion may be far thinner than we like to believe.​

The reason why I made this is for everybody to know that connection is beyond skin color or ethnicity. Family connection is so much more important. - Director Hikari

Rental Family Collab with Yama Sushi Marketplace

When Performance Becomes Care

The film's central question—can emotional meaning be manufactured, and does its origin matter if the impact is real?—cuts across cultural boundaries. Through Phillip's experiences, we discover that the roles he plays, though initially transactional, begin to accumulate genuine emotional weight. The act of pretending becomes a gateway to authentic connection. When Phillip assists an elderly client in small acts of rebellion or helps a struggling mother create the family narrative her daughter needs, his performance becomes indistinguishable from care.​

Family Beyond Biology

This speaks to a broader cultural moment in which many people feel untethered from traditional family structures. Rising rates of migration, delayed marriage, geographic dispersion of relatives, and changing definitions of family have left millions navigating belonging outside conventional frameworks. For some, this represents liberation; for others, it creates a void that "Rental Family" acknowledges without judgment. The film recognizes that in a world where not everyone has access to or connection with biological family, the emotional and social functions that family provides—witness, support, participation in life's rituals—remain deeply necessary.​

Complexity Without Easy Answers

What elevates "Rental Family" beyond a mere exploration of loneliness is its refusal to offer easy answers. Fraser delivers a sensitive performance that captures the essential sadness of someone who recognizes that the connections he makes, while meaningful, are temporary and predicated on deception. The film runs the gamut of human emotions—it is surprisingly funny and yet mournful, capturing both the comedy and pathos of human vulnerability. In this emotional complexity, it speaks to how modern life often demands that we hold contradictory truths simultaneously: that we can feel genuine love for people we've met under false pretenses, that family can be both chosen and performed, that meaning can be both real and constructed.​

Los Angeles Special Screening of Rental Family Directed by Hikari

A Necessary Story for This Moment

In a cultural landscape increasingly dominated by sequels, reboots, and franchise entries, "Rental Family" emerges as refreshingly original. Its commitment to exploring emotional authenticity rather than spectacle, its even-handed examination of both Japanese and American cultural anxieties, and its fundamental empathy for people struggling to connect mark it as more than a well-crafted drama. It is a necessary film for this moment—one that invites audiences to question their own performances and recognize that the roles we play in each other's lives, whether by design or chance, carry profound weight.​

Whether you discover unexpected family in a rental service or in the unexpected places life leads you, "Rental Family" suggests that connection itself—however it comes to us—is what makes us fully human. Rental Family will premiere in United States & Canada Theaters on November 21st, 2025.

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