TIFF 2025: Rental Family Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Three years ago, Brendan Fraser made his triumphant return to the Toronto International Film Festival with The Whale, where he was greeted by overwhelming enthusiasm, culminated in a 10-minute standing ovation following its premiere. That momentum carried him through awards season and ultimately earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Since then, Fraser has only appeared in a handful of supporting roles, making Rental Family his first leading performance in three years, a project that once again sees him exploring dramatic, emotionally resonant storytelling.

Rental Family is the sophomore feature from Hikari, best known for her acclaimed work on the award-winning Netflix series Beef. Fraser plays Phillip, a lonely, struggling actor living in Tokyo who can’t land anything beyond small commercial gigs. Through his agent, he’s introduced to a “rental family” service, where clients hire him to play a variety of roles in their personal lives. Initially reluctant and morally conflicted, Phillip eventually discovers that these staged relationships provide him with genuine connection and meaning, reshaping his own sense of belonging.

On paper, Rental Family seemed like a contender for the festival’s people’s choice award: a warm-hearted dramedy about found family, anchored by another soulful performance from Canadian treasure, Brenden Fraser. Though it did not win the award, to dismiss the film so quickly would be a mistake. Beneath its sweet and crowd pleasing premise lies a thoughtful, understated exploration of connection and Japanese culture. It’s beautifully written and is sure to make audiences both laugh and cry, without ever feeling pandering or overly reliant on familiar tropes.

Here, Hikari delivers a warm and deeply affecting film, alive with tenderness and vitality. Co-written with Stephen Blahuther, the script approaches Japanese culture with care, examining its distinct perspectives on mental health and human connection while maintaining an open, observational lens. Rather than casting judgment, it probes the moral ambiguities of the rental family business and the necessary fabrications its workers must tell. Fraser’s “fish out of water” role could have easily fallen into white savior territory, but instead the film wisely positions him as an entry point into this world rather than its hero. The result is a nuanced, character-driven story where each figure feels fully realized, even without detailed backstories. Anchored in the vibrant setting of Tokyo, the film carries a visual and cultural freshness that elevates it far beyond the trappings of a conventional crowd-pleaser.

While the film features a strong ensemble, it is Fraser who truly stands out in a role that feels tailor-made for him. Philip is warm and endearing, drawing on his naturally lovable screen presence, yet layered with a sense of messiness that one would not initially expect, making him all the more interesting to watch. His connections with clients are particularly moving, most notably with a young girl named Mia (Shannon Gorman) and with an elderly man named Kikuo (Akira Emoto). Emoto, in particular, delivers a quietly powerful performance, as the evolution of the dynamic between Kikuo and Phillip remains poignant and unexpected throughout.

Though it occasionally leans a bit too heavily into its more muted, cutesier tendencies, the film ultimately succeeds as a tender, thoughtfully crafted portrait of found family and the universal desire to ease one’s loneliness through connection, even when those bonds form in unconventional ways. Hikari proves herself as a filmmaker to watch, and the film showcases one of the strongest ensembles audiences are likely to see this year.

still courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

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Tristan French