Rental Family
2025 | 1h 43m | English
Starring:
Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, and Shanon Gorman.
Set against modern-day Tokyo, RENTAL FAMILY follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients' worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection.
Summary
About the Filmmaker:
Originally from Osaka, HIKARI is an award-winning writer, director, producer with professional background as a dancer, singer, painter, and photographer. Her debut feature 37 Seconds premiered at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Panorama Audience Award, the CICAE Art Cinema Award, and earned nomination for Best First Feature. The film received accolades globally.
Her past television credits include the Emmy® winning series “Beef”, starring Oscar nominee Steven Yeun and comedian Ali Wong, as pilot director and “Tokyo Vice” starring Ansel Elgort, Ken Watanabe, and executive produced by Michael Mann. She has also written and directed multiple award winning short films such as Tsuyako, a post-war Japanese drama USC Thesis film that won over 50 awards including DGA Student Award for the Best Female Director, live action/animated fantasy short film A Better Tomorrow, Can & Sulochan; a comedy about an Indian scientist living in Tokyo who falls in love with a vending machine; and a dance short film Where We Begin, which was nominated for the Best International Short Film at Tribecca Film Festival.
She’s currently developing several projects, including an Untitled Female Samurai project, an original TV series with Annapurna based on her life as an exchange student living with a dysfunctional Mormon family in Utah, as well as an original adaptation of a beloved classic with Hyde Park Entertainment and Barbara Broccoli.