Brendan Fraser as the Fake Groom for His Homophobic Parents

Loneliness is a widespread problem. According to the World Health Organization, one in six people worldwide feels lonely. In Japan, an unusual business model promises relief. Agencies connect people who, for a fee, simulate human closeness as family members, partners, or friends.

Director Werner Herzog documented this phenomenon in the documentary-tinged drama “Family Romance, LLC.” Now Japanese filmmaker Hikari, known for “Tokyo Vice,” has tackled the topic in the tragicomedy “Rental Family” — literally: Leihfamilie.

‘How do you rent a family?’

Oscar-winner Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”) plays the lead role. The script grabbed him at once: “What is a rental family? How do you rent a family?” — those were his first thoughts when he learned about the project, Fraser told the German press agency in London. “It’s a functioning business model that serves a social purpose. It fills social gaps and satisfies the need for connection.”

Even in a megacity like Tokyo, one can feel lonely. The burden weighs especially on older people. “If someone sits down with them and listens, or brushes their hair for an hour, that may sound unusual or a little strange, but it is undeniably interesting.” In “Rental Family” the focus is on the moment when the boundaries between real life and rented fantasy begin to blur.

A sad American in Tokyo

Fraser portrays Phillip Vandarpleog, an American actor who has lived in Tokyo for a long time and feels profoundly lonely there. His face becomes widely known after a flashy toothpaste commercial in which he battles cavities with an oversized toothbrush. While Phillip awaits a meaningful role, he takes small, inconsequential parts.

He agrees to play a “sad American” at a funeral. To his surprise, this isn’t a movie—it’s real life. Phillip is a guest at a funeral that takes a bizarre turn. After emotional eulogies, the person presumed dead rises from the coffin, grateful and moved. He had booked the experience with a company called “Rental Family.”

The owner of Rental Family, Shinji Tada (Takehiro Hira, “Duty and Shame”), offers Phillip a long-term engagement. With few alternatives, he accepts. Colleague Aiko (Mari Yamamoto, “Pachinko”) shows him the ropes, and after initial moral qualms he begins to recognize a deeper purpose.

A temporary rented dad

Phillip endows a wedding with a groom role that never happened, only for the parents of a lesbian bride, or serves as a friend for a man who never leaves his apartment and wants someone to play video games with. He helps clients; they give his life meaning.

The lonely foreigner works as a US reporter who is supposed to interview the aging Japanese film star Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto, superb). His daughter has hired Rental Family because her father is dealing with early dementia and fears being forgotten. Things get complicated when Kikuo — against his daughter’s wishes — wants to take Phillip on a trip to his homeland.

Further troubles arise when a client (Shino Shinozaki) hires Phillip to pose as the long-absent father of her eleven-year-old daughter. To convince the admissions committee of an elite private school to admit the girl, Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), she intends to stage a flawless family. Mia herself isn’t aware of the ruse. She soon develops feelings for her missing father, and Phillip feels the same. Yet the arrangement is limited in time.

The sad gaze is Fraser’s specialty

Phillip’s arc partly mirrors the filmmakers’ own experiences, says director and writer Hikari, aka Kiyoka Miyazaki. “That’s me. When I was 17 or 18 and came to America, I lived in Utah. There, nearly everyone is white. For six months I didn’t know a single Asian person. Being the sole person of color in this vast sea of humanity definitely gave me that sense of loneliness and isolation.”

In Brendan Fraser she found the perfect protagonist. For years Fraser has been known for that mournful gaze. As a viewer, you can’t help feeling sympathy for him. The warm, empathetic aura surrounding Phillip also radiates in Fraser’s own life. In interviews, the Canadian actor—who will soon star in “The Mummy 4″—wins over his conversation partners with ease.

A tender comedy with a lot of heart

If you think you can guess how the story will unfold, you probably won’t be right. “Rental Family” isn’t completely devoid of kitsch. But director Hikari, who has spent about 30 years in the United States and alternates perspectives from both Japan and America, largely avoids the usual Hollywood clichés. The humor is measured and restrained.

Her touching dramedy, which in its tone occasionally evokes Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” resonates thanks to the moving performances by Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, the young Shannon Mahina Gorman, and Japanese screen legend Akira Emoto (“Shin Godzilla”). It also enchants with lush imagery of a world that might seem exotic or quirky to Western eyes, yet is undeniably fascinating. A wonderful film.