52 Films by Women Vol 9. 47. Rental Family (Director: Hikari)
Pictured : Young Mia ( Shannon Mahina Gorman ) spends time with her 'dad for hire', Philip ( Brendan Fraser ) in a scene from the Japan-set heart-warming drama, ' Rental Family ', directed by Hikari from a screenplay she co-wrote with Stephen Blahut . Photo: James Lisle . Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures . Rental Family , the second feature from Japanese writer-director Hikari, is a film about the effort made in Japanese society to respect convention when it is ordinarily not possible to do so. It is about professional stand-ins, people who are contracted to masquerade as individuals - grooms, the deceased, a missing parent - for the purpose of an event – a wedding, funeral or school interview. Their performance in the role is time-limited and does not involve physical intimacy – these stand-ins are not prostitutes. Yet there is an emotional cost to the performance. Attachments may be formed especially if children are involved. There is also the question of shame, the ...