Unhappy with your lot? Rent a new life!
I went to see the film Rental Family last week. It is a quirky film, partly in Japanese with subtitles although mostly in English.
Rental Family poster
Phillip, played by Brendan Fraser, is an out of work actor who originally came to Japan seven years ago to appear in a toothpaste commercial. Work for an American actor in the far east is hit and miss but one day he gets a call to play “the sad American.” He dons his best black suit and turns up, just a little bit late, at a funeral.
I won’t spoil the twist on that particular role but afterwards he speaks to Shinji, who hired him. Shinji runs the Rental Family Agency and offers Phillip more work as the “token white guy.”
A mother who wants her half-Japanese daughter to gain a place at a prestigious school needs a white father to come along to the interview and impress the panel. A daughter is worried about her father, who has dementia. Phillip poses as a journalist interviewing him about his film career so he can legitimately talk about his past.
Phillip says to Mia, his pretend daughter "You know, sometimes it's okay to pretend." But the longer he plays the parts of dad and journalist he becomes invested in the other’s lives and makes real connections.
It is explained in the film the mental health is very much stigmatised in Japan and these kinds of services do exist. To us in the West it seems so strange, where many of us have no problem admitting we take anti-depressants or see a counsellor, at least to our close friends. Renting someone to be your friend, partner, family member can give you what you need instead.
Before Christmas I listened to an audio book, about Shoji Morimoto who hires himself out as “rental person who does nothing.”
I totally understand wanting someone to sit beside you while you complete some complicated paperwork. Someone who is detached but will keep you on task and stop you getting distracted just by being there. You can’t always ask friends to do that and be impartial, they would want to help and butt in.
The idea of having a rental person to cook for or join you for coffee or an event you want to attended? Yes, I get that too. Not everyone has the confidence to go alone and as a widow there are still many things I won’t do because there is only one of me.
Many of my single friends go on holiday on their own and I don’t, not because I am fearful of my own company or of being alone but I like having someone to share experiences with. To look back and say to a friend or family member “remember when…”
You can’t look back and share memories with a rental person, they have moved on and forgotten you.
Making real and lasting connections in this world is getting harder and harder as we rely on digital communication. Maybe the idea of rental families will catch on here. Perhaps I should hire myself out? No, seriously I don’t have the time and I don’t want superficial connections I’m always looking for something deeper and more meaningful.
If you get the chance to see Rental Family, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. I already think this gentle, heartwarming story about another culture will be in my top ten films of the year.
As for Shoji Morimoto’s memoir – he really is a person who does nothing, someone else wrote the book for him and by the end I was quite annoyed by him and all that he didn’t do!