Director Hikari On Mental Health And Found Family In ‘Rental Family’

Since the 1990s, Japanese businesses in their country have offered rental families, offering people looking for actors to play or act as stand-in family members in their lives. Either for therapeutic reasons or to combat loneliness, rental families have been normalized in society, where saving face and social etiquette have been part of the culture.

It’s no different from the American romantic comedies, where a person pretends to be in a relationship with another to fake a relationship, albeit they don’t actually fall in love in real life.

In Searchlight Pictures’ Rental Family, set for worldwide release on November 21, American actor Phillip Vandarploeug (Brendan Fraser) has been living and working in Japan for seven years, playing the token white guy and silly gimmick on Japanese television, struggling to find a purpose. It is only when a Japanese Rental Family Agency hires him to play stand-in roles for strangers. He plays a father to a young and bright daughter in need of a father figure, a journalist’ interviewing a wise-cracking retired actor, a friend to a lonely gamer, and a husband to a woman desperately wanting to run away with her female lover. As he immerses himself in his clients’ world, he forms genuine bonds and human connections with them that stay with him.

Director Hikari points out how this story is relevant to the world now, as people are increasingly divided and losing connection with one another, especially during and after the pandemic. That’s when she began thinking about this story after hearing about the rental family business in Japan.

“I found out this business exists,” says the Japanese director. “I didn’t know anything about it, but I found out there are similar services that I’ve been around that I knew about, so I dug in. For me, this story is all about connecting people, even Philip, who is the token white guy living in Japan. He’s trying to adopt the culture. He’s trying to be the person he’s not, but wants to be. He wants to find a family in the way [because] he had lived his life pretty much alone. So that was his discovery.”

Hikari really wanted audiences to take away the idea that we’re not really alone in the world. If one feels isolated or disconnected from their real family, they should take a step back and look around to see who they’re surrounded by. She loved the idea of “found family.”

She recalls her experience as a high school exchange student in the U.S. and became family with the people she was living with and the friends she made in school. That left a lasting impression on her.

“Even though you have a different color of skin, there are people who are going to become your family,” she explains. “That was really the reason I wanted to make the movie, to really connect people, especially during this time. Lately, I don’t even want to talk about it. I can’t even watch the news anymore. But if we, as human beings, collectively really shift our energy, then perhaps there’s an opportunity and a chance for us to realize that we have each other. To me, that’s the message I want this film to share.”

She had the story be presented through the eyes of Phillip to showcase differences between Western and Japanese culture, especially those who don’t quite understand the purpose of having a rental family. Western culture has a more open approach to mental health, making it more accessible to get help. Though Japan does have hotlines and therapists, many culturally do not want to discuss their mental state.

“It takes a lot more guts and more energy for people who are depressed to talk about their issues, right?” she states. “That’s why the rental family service company exists, because they’re there for them. Whatever you need, I’m there for you. If you don’t want to do anything, we don’t have to do anything.”

She recalls a popular rental gentleman in Japan, Mr. Do Nothing. He’s the most popular rental person, but he doesn’t do anything. Yet, he’s booked for the next three years. Hikari credits the fact that people don’t really want to talk about their problems, but still want someone there.

“Those are businesses that still are around,” she says. “It’s great people are using those services.”

Hikari conducted extensive research into rental family stories and their impact on people’s lives. She remembers reading an interview with a woman who owns a rental family business, who helped a dying man find closure with his estranged daughter. He wanted to apologize to his daughter before he died, so she hired a woman who looked similar to his daughter for him to apologize to and to accept his forgiveness. The actress went to the hospital and apologized for not being there for her “father.” That helped fulfill his final wishes, and he was able to let go and pass away.

From that story, they wanted to include something similar to that for the storyline for character Aiko (Mari Yamamoto), where one of her first jobs was portraying a dying woman’s deceased daughter, and allowing her to comb Aiko’s hair as she apologized over and over for not being there for her daughter.

“[The dying lady] was able to let go because she just combed her hair,” Hikari says of the cut scene. “There’s a monologue that we wrote and actually shot, but we decided not to include it in the movie for multiple reasons. But that was something I really liked and resonated with me.”

Hikari still thinks about the current situation with the increased loneliness epidemic, which she says has also worsened due to the rise of AI and technology. She hopes that people will want to return to the movies and watch films that remind them of this humanity and human connection.

“There have to be certain things that the phone is not going to do everything for you,” Hikari says. “You gotta need the human touch. You need those things. The younger generation enjoys attending the theater. There are more and more young kids who want to go to the theater because they want to have that community experience. That’s the reason why I wanted to make this movie. It’s connecting people with different skin color and cultures because that stuff doesn’t matter – [that connection does].”