Interview: ‘Rental Family’ Director Hikari on Crafting an Uplifting Film | FirstShowing.net

Interview: ‘Rental Family’ Director Hikari on Crafting an Uplifting Film

by Alex Billington
December 23, 2025

“Sometimes the story we tell ourselves becomes the truth.” One of the year’s most heartwarming, uplifting films is Rental Family, inspired by the stories of real rental agencies in Tokyo, Japan. Academy Award-winner Brendan Fraser stars as an American actor living in Tokyo who decides to take on a job working for a people rental agency – they hire people to play fathers, mothers, sons, friends, husbands, whatever is necessary for someone who needs to “rent” a person. Rental Family is directed by the Japanese-American filmmaker known as Hikari (real name Mitsuyo Miyazaki) as her second feature film following 37 Seconds, along with her work directing the series “Beef” for A24 & Netflix. I’m honored that I had a chance to spend a few minutes chatting with Hikari – I really wanted to ask her thoughts about her uplifting intentions with the film, the reactions to it, as well as her hopes that it might influence Japanese society (and anyone else) to work on being a bit better. Read on for my convo with Hikari – and catch Rental Family in theaters now.

Rental Family is directed by Hikari, from a screenplay co-written by Hikari and Stephen Blahut. It initially premiered at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival and opened in theaters during Thanksgiving this fall. Brendan Fraser stars as Phillip Vanderploeg, the American man in Tokyo. The Rental Family agency owner Shinji is played by Takehiro Hira, with employees Mari Yamamoto as Aiko and Kimura Bun as Kota. Along the way, Phillip meets clients including Akira Emoto as Kikuo Hasegawa, an old retired Japanese actor who he befriends, and Shannon Mahina Gorman as Mia Kawasaki, a mixed-race young girl in need of a father figure. This lovely film is all about connection, and how lonely we all are (even in a city like Tokyo with 30+ million people), and how we all need each other… And while Phillip’s job is to give a fake performance, he eventually builds a real relationship with the clients anyway. I’m delighted I could talk with Hikari about it.

I was very moved by Joachim Trier’s statement about “tenderness is the new punk” at Cannes this year while talking about his film Sentimental Value. And I feel the same way with Rental Family and its tenderness. It’s a breath of fresh air to enjoy such a film while there are so many other heavy, depressing, intense films being made. Is this something you wanted to put out into the world at this moment?

Hikari: My first feature film [37 Seconds] was also in a way uplifting. Me becoming a director was almost by chance. It was like, wow, like I’m a director now, what kind of story can I tell to the world, right? I’ve done so many different professions and I finally got here. And along the way I learned a lot, sometimes in a hard way, [through] experiences that I had in life… All of those life lessons led me to this place. So I don’t want to take that for granted. When I was writing this story it was right around when the pandemic hit, too. I really wanted to make a story that connects all of us. Without knowing what was going to happen [at the time]. But still there’s continued isolation because of what happened [during the pandemic]. I just feel like we need to make a really good story, a feel good movie, that really connects people. It wasn’t even intentional. It just kind of came in naturally.

I wanted to tell a story about this rental family business based in Japan. And rather than focusing on the person who rents, which could be super dramatic. It’s a very fine line we have to walk, particularly, talking about subject matter like this… I wanted to make sure we’re on the other side with the people providing the service, yet we are still learning from those people who need the service. For me it was very important to share the message of what I learned in my life: we’re not alone, obviously, but if you feel that way then you have to reach out to people. You also have to take that first step. So that process of how Phillip moved from one place to the other place… At first, he’s just taking everything in. Then as he gets involved with the rental family business, everybody learns from each other. That was something that I really wanted to focus on.

Brendan Fraser is the most wholesome, very very emotive, incredible actor that I got lucky to work with. He really brought everybody together. And everybody’s really reacting to what he has to bring. So it was a great, great, great experience. And all the [other] actors were also incredible, too. So I got really lucky. I also grew up watching 1990s & late 1980s, nerdy feel-good movies. And that was my escape. My formative escape in cinema was to watch something that feels so good because so much shit was happening in my life. Last thing I wanted to do was just get depressed watching a movie, really, so I just wanted to give that to the audience.

I also have to ask about the connection between your film and Werner Herzog’s film Family Romance LLC and the similarities with this subject. It’s not that you’re copying from his film, I’m more much curious about what you feel about the connection between them.

Hikari: I heard about Herzog’s movie as we were filming, I didn’t know anything about that movie until I saw that somebody said something… I watched the first 10 minutes, but it was hard for me to watch more. I thought it was a documentary and it wasn’t… The whole thing just felt a little bit, to me, too forced. But I wanted to [work] on my own fresh idea, so once I watched the first 10 minutes, I’m like, I don’t want to watch this and I just want to go with my gut and just [stick to my] story. I have to do something good for my people, like, be uplifted. If people are so down right now then I have to find a way to uplift them.

In Rental Family, it feels like there is a very strong message about telling Japanese society that they need to be less conservative & harsh and that maybe they need to let some American gaijin come in and teach them how to be a bit more open. And how to be more honest and okay with making changes. And sometimes that’s the lesson we need to hear and something that Japan needs to hear. Was that your intention as someone who is a part of both worlds?

Hikari: Absolutely, for me a lot of shaking was happening. For example, first starting out with the lesbian couple because in Japan, gay men are more loved, but then lesbians they still have so much pressure from society. It is, in a way, shaking this thing… For me, it was about cheering to those girls or boys who cannot stand up for themselves, so that they can learn to say enough is enough. And by doing so, making that first step, somebody else is going to learn who is the boss in this case. So I just wanted to show and express the domino effect. If you stand up, then something else is going to happen without you knowing about it. That’s my idea of doing this. Thank you for noticing.

As someone who has been to Japan and seen it for myself and learned a great about society there now, I notice that it seems to be a common theme that many foreigners bring up. But I also think this film presents it in such a beautiful way. Do you actually believe that there is hope in, if not with this film, in the ideas that you’ve presented, that this could change things and society can develop and improve a little bit?

Hikari: This is exactly what I want to always talk about, because, well… I always pray for world peace, for everybody to be treated equally, and that everybody can stand up [for themselves]. We’re born here for a reason – to elevate each other. That’s my philosophy. My people are standing up for themselves. And the movie [might] inspire them to stand up for themselves individually. It actually creates this massive energy where everybody goes – “okay, I think it’s time for us to change, just a little…” Change their perspective, change their attitude, change anything – if the movie makes you feel a certain way and also makes you feel positive. By watching the movie, it triggers like, oh no, I can’t take this shit. Right? Even just that one step. It’s just a wave of energy moving to a positive place.

For me, it’s very important to send a message as a filmmaker. But I also really do believe that if we all make the step forward, at one point this is going to break. If the water keeps filling up the cup, someday it’s going to overflow. It’s the same thing – energy, everything, it’s all the same. 1000%. I believe that – the movie can change people’s perspective. As a filmmaker, I have to believe that, or otherwise people are going to smell it from miles away. And nobody’s going to go see it. For me, it was just a very genuine [belief]: showing that we can be good, people can be good, everybody can be good. And we’re all here for each other, we’re found family, it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white or yellow or whatever. Or come from a different culture. As you mentioned, Phillip making that step, like I might be gaijin from outside, but I will try to understand this is my home now. That’s something he wants to make progress with. I hope, knock on wood, I think we all need to come together in that way.

Some of the other reviews I’ve read for this have been overly harsh in saying that the movie is too sweet or too cheesy. Which I don’t agree with at all! I don’t mind that it’s sweet or cheesy, because I think cinematically it makes the story more endearing. I’m surprised by these negative reviews. And one point they mention is that they wish the movie would spend more time on the backstories of the renters, which I also don’t agree with either.

Hikari: I think for me, if we were to go down the route of focusing on the people using the service, that is going to be such a depressing movie. I’m not going to lie about it, because everybody comes in asking about this… I have interviewed them [these people who rent], I know how they are. I know where the mind is. It’s not a happy ending movie. And I really thought about it, too. Before we decided to focus on the American guy, we went through so many different scenarios: What if this, what if that, what if [we follow] five people who rent out these businesses, what is the story that comes from it? Me and [co-writer] Stephen Blahut went through this process of like, what if, what if, what if, for months, even before we started writing the script. We still kept going back to this and asking if we should focus on these people? And really, it really was a depressing movie. And I could just not make myself make a depressing movie.

What happened was, with the chemistry of somebody who wants to rent, right, and then somebody coming in. Perhaps there could be a relationship that will develop, which I did not want to do because it’s so cliche… Often times this person, they start feeling a little bit heavier than the other one, and it just wasn’t the story I wanted to tell. By us basically flipping the idea… Because that’s the first thing everybody would say, right? “You should come at it with a story about this perspective of these people who rent.” But by changing that, I found… While these people are requesting a rental because they are lonely, these people who are providing the services are actually getting so much more [out of it] too, because they’re in this energy. They’re asking, paying money, then they’re providing, but at the same time, they’re being appreciated.

Most of the time [the performers] are being appreciated. So there’s a love exchange that is happening, even though there’s a transactional relationship that they go through. And that, for me, was the story I wanted to tell. Anything else doesn’t matter… Whatever happens, the fact is they came together – and that’s what it is. That is human connection.

I don’t even read the reviews anymore, but people still talk about it. We all shot it. I have a whole heavy-handed backstory of Aiko [that we filmed]. But then I wanted to go back to what the focus is – the story I wanted to tell. And then I decided to just kill the babies and tell the story of Phillip because the heaviness of Aiko, what happened to her, is there in her performance [already]. I didn’t have to spit it out and share with the audience. Audiences sense it. And the fact that she steps out and says enough is enough, I quit. That’s enough for her. And that’s something a majority of people are [connecting to anyway]. When others say I should’ve done more with them, well I already answered that in the film.

Thank you to Hikari for taking his time to do this interview and to SSM&L PR for arranging.

Hikari’s Rental Family film is now playing in theaters nationwide and will be available to watch at home soon as well. The film is one of my favorites of the year and comes highly recommended. Watch the official trailer here along with the making of featurette including Hikari talking about working with Brendan Fraser.

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