Month: November 2025

A Conversation with RENTAL FAMILY Writer/Director HIKARI

McEric chats with RENTAL FAMILY writer/director HIKARI. Read the full article on AICN HIKARI’s RENTAL FAMILY is the feel-good charmer that everyone needs around Thanksgiving, a gentle reminder that family is organic, genuine, and irreplaceable. Even when we sometimes wish we could rent an understudy to fill our place. RENTAL FAMILY stars Brendan Fraser as Phillip, an American actor living alone in Japan for the past seven years, struggling to find consistent work. Think LOST IN TRANSLATION, only don’t, because this film provides a much deeper portrait of Japan than Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winner. LOST IN TRANSLATION, though a beautiful portrait of loneliness, uses Japan as a superficial location, giving us the eyes of a visitor through which to take in its beauty. RENTAL FAMILY has an expatriate at its center but Phillip has taken swimmingly to his new home. He’s fluent, versed in the customs, and permanent. One never gets the idea that Phillip is working towards returning “home” he is home. With him as our anchor, we feel like we belong, seeing past the tourist attractions to find the core of community. Phillip is auditioning steadily, getting bit roles here and there, but he needs something with longevity. He stumbles into Rental Family, a service that sells “memories.” Mastermind Tada (Takehiro Hira) is introduced as a compassionate man with a fierce streak of pragmatism, which is aided by his right hand and lead actress Aiko (Mari Yamamoto). Brought on board as their “token white guy,” Phillip finds himself acting as a groom, a best friend, a karaoke champion, a journalist, and a long-lost Finish the article on AICN.