It feels like mixed praise for an actor to be impressive in playing a mediocre role.
But then again, we’re talking about Brendan Fraser. With each role, each passing year, each new wrinkle the man seems to become more powerfully human. And what is more humane, or at least more sensitive and trustworthy, than mediocrity?
It’s this essential vulnerability that sustains Fraser’s latest venture, Filmmaker Hikari’s Tokyo-set “Rent Family,” Treading that thin line between heartwarming and downright sad.
The film certainly has a fascinating premise that would work well enough if it were entirely fictional – but it works better with the knowledge that it’s based on fact. In fact, there are companies in Japan that are at the center of Hikari’s film – businesses that “hire” actors to play roles in people’s everyday lives.
In “Rental Family” these actors play lovers, parents, friends, fans, people crying at a funeral or cheering at a karaoke bar – whatever the client is missing and needs to be addressed. There are scenarios that raise definite ethical questions. But these companies offer something basic and essential: human connections.
Fraser’s Philip Vanderploeg is also looking for connections, let alone gainful employment. This middle-aged – and middle-aged – actor originally came to Tokyo to star in a big toothpaste commercial. But that was seven years ago, and the acting gigs have ended.
As good as Fraser is at conveying humanity, he’s perhaps even better at conveying discomfort — both within his own skin, and within his large frame. And that’s what’s surprising when we first meet Philip, who is running to catch the subway, looking and feeling very different from everyone else.
After another fruitless audition, he goes home to a dark apartment where he eats and looks at other apartments where people are living their lives together.
Soon his agent calls frantically: he needs a dark suit, and the role is “sad American”. He finds himself not on a shoot but at a funeral. It’s strange enough, before the man in the coffin raises his head and responds to a loving eulogy.
Turns out everyone is an actor, hired by that guy to remind him that his existence is meaningful. The head of the rental company, Shinji, asks Philip to come to the office. There, he explains what they do. “You sell people!” Philip screams. “We sell emotions,” Shinji retorted. He further explains that mental health issues are stigmatized in Japan, and therefore therapy is not always a viable option.
Reluctant Philip takes on a new assignment: at an elaborate wedding, he plays the role of a groom, and fools the bride’s parents and family. At first, he almost fails the task by hiding in the bathroom in fear.
However, soon, he became a regular. There’s also a cute montage of their various “rental” programs. In these give-and-take relationships, everyone gets what they want. But then two new jobs emerge that will highlight the ethical complexities of this line of work.
These include an aging movie star who is rapidly losing his memory. His daughter hires Philip to pose as a journalist and document their life. Things become difficult when the man begs Philip to secretly travel with him to another city on an undisclosed mission – apparently against Betty’s wishes.
Then there is Mia. The young girl’s single mother hires Philip to pose as Mia’s long-absent father during the admissions process at a special school, so they can pose as a two-parent family.
The catch: Mia has to trust the story to make it seem true, so she doesn’t know that Phillip is an actor. They will need to spend some time together.
It’s not hard to see where this is going. Of course, the initially reticent Mia will fall in love with the father she didn’t know she had. No doubt, Philip will develop feelings too. The scenes of their engagement in the art class and the street carnival emerge with lavish colour; Philip’s life is really getting brighter.
But this tactic strains credibility. Honestly, would any sane person treat a young girl this way? Deceive him into thinking he has a father, and then be tormented when he finds out he doesn’t?
The film will try to put a neat twist on this subplot by the end, with a few other twists along the way.
Some of these moments are more successfully realized than others. However, it’s not clear how we should feel about the whole “surrogate family” phenomenon. In some ways, people get what they want and no one gets hurt – like that bride in the beginning, who can now go and be with the love of her life, her girlfriend.
But other scenarios are vague, and the overarching message may just be that real relationships, that holy grail we all want, can sometimes be found in the strangest of places — even in a strange land between fake relationships and real relationships.
Searchlight Pictures’ release “Rental Family” is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some strong language and suggestive content. Running time: 103 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
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