Rental Family

Featuring a live in-person Q&A with director HIKARI, actor Brendan Fraser and actress Mari Yamamoto. Followed by a reception.

Searchlight Pictures welcomes Japan Society members to an advance free screening of Rental Family starring Brendan Fraser, coming to theaters November 21. It’s a tremendous story about cross-cultural collaboration, exchange and family—created as collaboration between teams from across the U.S. and Japan both in front of and behind the camera.

Set against modern-day Tokyo, Rental Family follows an American actor (Brendan Fraser) who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese “rental family” agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. As he immerses himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality. Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging and the quiet beauty of human connection.

Rental Family is directed, co-written and produced by HIKARI. Originally from Osaka, her debut feature 37 Seconds premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the Panorama Audience Award. Her past credits include the Emmy winning series Beef, starring Oscar-nominee Steven Yeun and comedian Ali Wong, and Tokyo Vice starring Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe. The film stars Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild award winner Brendan Fraser (The Whale, The Mummy, Encino Man) with a supporting cast that includes Emmy nominee Takehiro Hira (Shogun), Mari Yamamoto (Pachinko, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), newcomer Shannon Mahina Gorman and iconic actor Akira Emoto (Lovers Lost, Shin Godzilla, Dr. Akagi).

Dir. HIKARI, 2025, 103 min., DCP, color, in English and Japanese with English subtitles. With Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Gorman, Akira Emoto.

Image Credit
© 2025 Searchlight Pictures

Film programs are generously supported by Anime NYC, ORIX Corporation USA, and Yen Press. Endowment support is provided by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund and The John and Miyoko Davey Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by Jono Abrams and Elizabeth Linn, Ayumi Arafune, Darin Arita and Kanako Arita, Mike Audet, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Catanzaro, The Globus Family, George P. Hirose, Akiko Koide and Shohei Koide, David Toberisky, Joseph Rajaratnam and Dharshini Iolanthe Sivakumaran, Japan Society Film Council, and other Film supporters.

Transportation assistance is provided by Japan Airlines, the official Japanese airline sponsor of Japan Society Film Program. Housing assistance is provided by the Prince Kitano New York, the official hotel sponsor of Japan Society Film Program.

Japan Society arts and culture programs are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Japan Society’s 120th anniversary initiatives and related programs are generously supported by Champion Sponsor, MUFG Bank, Ltd.; Advocate Sponsor, Mizuho Americas; and Friend Sponsor, Mitsubishi Corporation (Americas).