Right here’s a shock – hiring an actor to play a long-lost beloved one would possibly include emotional baggage.
The artistic crew behind “Rental Household” hopes that Billboard-sized revelation is sufficient to energy an Oscar-bait drama. The well-intentioned movie, starring an much more well-intentioned Brendan Fraser, shares a curious Japanese observe.
On paper, it’s superb fodder for a characteristic movie. In actuality, director HIKARI’s imaginative and prescient lacks objective and, most significantly, a way of narrative shock.
Fraser stars as Phillip, a middle-aged actor nonetheless pining for his massive break. He’s discovered a house for himself in Japan, however relocating to a overseas tradition hasn’t afforded him {many professional} breaks.
He even serves as an “American mourner,” a job that proves baffling on a number of ranges. It’s a minor second, however the movie by no means tops this sequence.
It’s odd, recent and unnerving, and it permits Phillip to discover some all too human reactions.
The dispiriting gig isn’t for naught. It introduces him to Rental Household, a agency that would use a “token white man” like Phillip. The corporate hires actors to play numerous “roles” for shoppers. If a lady is in love with one other lady, she will be able to rent a Rental Household actor to faux to be her husband.
It’s not an actual relationship, but it surely helps calm the homosexual panic fears inside her household.
Phillip is initially cautious of the gig, however he’s talked into the function by the corporate’s persuasive boss Shinji (Takehiro Hira). The wannabe actor proves to be a fast examine, however by getting into the lives of individuals in emotional misery he realizes the boundaries of the job.
Fraser’s Phillip needs to assist his shoppers in additional methods than one. He turns into invested of their struggles, and that forces him to confront the gig’s darker aspect. He’s taking part in make imagine with actual individuals, and any miscue gained’t contain a second take or embarrassing stage gaffe.
Folks might get harm.
“Rental Household” leans on a real-life Japanese observe, one which opens up a world of dramatic potentialities. The movie settles for the obvious conflicts, oblivious to darker themes that would stream from the observe.
Fraser is adept on the job earlier than him, however wouldn’t or not it’s extra attention-grabbing if his character’s flaws bubbled to the floor? Actors can have notoriously skinny skins, for instance. Or, Phillip might lean into the facility he wields on the danger of his shoppers’ emotional well-being.
Phillip’s bond with a younger woman (Shannon Mahina Gorman) who by no means knew her actual father is the center of the story, however as soon as once more the dramatic stress proves predictable and, even worse, protected.
HIKARI’s script has little curiosity in nuance. It’s all surface-level observations that fail to discover the ramifications of the Rental Household practive.
Inspirational tales matter. So do movies that skim throughout the human expertise, leaving lots unexplored however nonetheless touching our hearts. What’s lacking here’s a sense of marvel, a sense that we don’t fairly know the place the story will head at any given second.
The movie makes superb use of its Tokyo setting, utilizing lush backgrounds and slick city landscapes to seize a tradition most Individuals hardly ever see. That, plus the distinctive idea in play, recommend Fraser’s “Whale” resurgence was no fluke.
We are able to’t blame the Oscar winner for a narrative that lets him and the plot’s potential down.
HiT or Miss: “Rental Household” has a can’t miss premise however refuses to comply with the story’s fascinating angles.