'Rental Family' makes pretending feel real

Can you establish genuine connections while playing make-believe?

- By JANUAR JUNIOR AGUJA

This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Shannon Gorman, left, and Brendan Fraser in a scene from “Rental Family.”

(Searchlight Pictures)

That’s the question Japanese director Hikari explores in her latest film, “Rental Family,” which stars Brendan Fraser as Phillip, an American actor based in Tokyo who is offered a job pretending to be someone else for various clients.Whatever Phillip plays, you name it: from being a groom for a closeted lesbian woman secretly leaving for Canada with her real lover, to befriending a loner who is into video games and watching “artsy” strip shows.

While rental family services are common in Japan, Phillip initially finds the job offer absurd. He ends up accepting it anyway as the agency’s “token white guy” a niche market in Japan - as he struggles to land the roles he wants, often being stuck with minor parts. His most notable credit is playing a mascot for a toothpaste brand seven years prior.