Overview

RENTAL FAMILY MOVIE GUIDE 2025 Rental Family tells the story of Brendan Fraser (Phillip Vandarploeug), an American actor adrift in Tokyo, whose fading career and fractured sense of self lead him to an unusual job - performing as a ""rented"" husband, father, and friend for clients seeking the illusion of companionship. What begins as a role for survival soon transforms into a journey of self-discovery, as he confronts the meaning of authenticity, belonging, and emotional truth in a world built on façades.--- CHARACTER OVERVIEW Brendan Fraser (Phillip Vandarploeug) - A once-celebrated actor who becomes entangled in Tokyo's rental family industry, taking on scripted roles that challenge his understanding of love, loss, and identity. Takehiro Hira (Shinji) - The composed yet internally conflicted manager of the rental agency, who mentors Phillip while wrestling with his own moral boundaries and loneliness. Mari Yamamoto (Aiko) - A poised and precise performer within the agency, whose connection with Phillip exposes the emotional fragility beneath her professional discipline. Shannon Mahina Gorman (Mia Kawasaki) - A teenage client yearning for the father figure she never had, whose innocence forces Phillip to face the emptiness of his manufactured affection. Akira Emoto (Kikuo Hasegawa) - An aging widower who hires actors to relive the warmth of family life, embodying the quiet heartbreak of Japan's aging and isolated generation. Shino Shinozaki (Mia's Mother) - A client driven by appearances, employing a rental family to uphold her public image, revealing the hollow pressures of perfection in modern society. Gan Furukawa (Neighbor Old Man) - A gentle, observing neighbor whose silent gestures of kindness become a quiet reminder of genuine human connection. Takao Kin (Bartender) - The empathetic listener who anchors Phillip's late-night reflections, offering insight and honesty amid his collapsing sense of self. --- In Tokyo's glowing labyrinth of loneliness, these lives intersect around one fragile truth - that even rehearsed emotions can awaken something real. Phillip, the foreigner caught between roles, is guided by Shinji, whose calm pragmatism conceals his own disillusionment. Aiko's guarded warmth and Mia's fragile hope force him to feel again, while Kikuo Hasegawa and Mia's Mother embody two faces of grief - one nostalgic, one performative. Amid the backdrop of neon signs and scripted smiles, the Neighbor Old Man's quiet humanity and the Bartender's unspoken wisdom reveal that truth often hides in simplicity. Together, they form a haunting portrait of people performing life - each searching for connection, redemption, and something unspoken that might finally make them real.

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