Importance of a Connection: A Conversation with ‘Rental Family’ Filmmaker HIKARI

Set in 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.

There are certain films that linger with you. This year is definitely the year of lingering films, with Rental Family being one of the films at the top of the list. It’s not flashy. It’s not preachy. It’s not emotionally jarring. It’s quiet. It’s heartwarming. It’s tender. It’s vulnerable. It’s balanced. There is an unspoken visual poetry to Hikari’s work. (Well, maybe people are talking about it, as they should be - also check out the few episodes she directed for Beef.) She is intentional with every frame she paints, from page to screen.

Hikari discussed with Script how she and her co-writer Stephen Blahut landed on this specific story idea, how the impact of the pandemic impacted the narrative of this character, and she fully emphasizes the importance of vulnerability, connection and personal growth.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: I'd love to discuss finding your way into the story with your co-writer, Stephen [Blahut]. Your writing process to all the research to finally saying, ‘OK, we gotta write this now.’

Hikari: Stephen was just randomly, when we were in Japan, looking for an American person to do a job in Japan, and what kind of jobs there are? There's a cuddling service, there's a butler cafe that he can be a butler to serve tea to Japanese customers [laughs] to renting a girlfriend, which I already knew, and then rental family popped up. And I was just like, 'What is this rental family?' He was like, 'Do you know anything about it?' I was like, 'I'm Japanese. I've never heard of it. What is this? Renting of dad? How can you rent a dad? I want to rent one.' [laughs] And then that was kind of beginning of it.

[The] business itself is very interesting. And then I knew there's a story there immediately. But why does this business exist, right? What kind of people use this service, and what kind of people who gives a service to rent, have even a company, why are they doing all this stuff? What is the motivation?

And then also, at the same time, we found the story that it really resonated with us, and some were very heartbreaking, and then some are very heartwarming, and it was somewhat very funny. So, it really was for us figuring out who our character is. Now we have all this information. Let's break it down.

Stephen being a Caucasian man who when he went to Japan to shoot 37 Seconds, he was the only white boy who was on set [laughs] and he was like, 'What about this?’ And then also I was like, ‘Well, yeah, that's great.’ I wanted somebody to be set in Japan that comes from a completely different culture than Japanese culture.

So, we were thinking about it, and then like, ‘OK, well, let's do this, or let's do that.’ And as we're thinking about different characters, the main lead actor had to be a man, right? Because I wanted to have a different relationship with all of them and then it was kind of how it started it and then just landed on the story. But in between, Philip, at one point, we had a Yakuza character, that was a comedy version. [laughs]

Sadie: [laughs] You could have gone in any direction. I was watching an interview that you just did recently, and you mentioned that you had done some interviews with the people who own these rental family businesses. And I'm sure, you get so many stories and point of views and moments where your jaw drops on the floor. I'm so curious for you as a storyteller, what made you maybe lean in really, and go, ‘Yeah, this is it. This is the story I can tell… there is a character here that can carry this story and this emotion we want to bring forth.’

Hikari: Yeah, totally. And during that time when we really dug in and started writing the script, it was right around the pandemic... we just didn't know what was going to happen next, right? You felt like, at one point, like end of the world, when this is going to end? And it was just happening all around the world - never happened in our time.

And then in that moment, I feel like there's so much isolation and loneliness that came from it, and that we kind of took that as would be a core story... But it doesn't have to be that that's the whole story. What if somebody who's so lonely but doesn't know quite know how to react to it? And let's give him an engine to start that journey.

And then when you look at it now, oh, my god, everybody, on this phone - technology - it's really dividing us too, and then also the governments the world and the country, they're fighting, you know, constantly, and it's just really dividing, even so much more than before, I feel. And so, for me, it was important to remind us that there are us before this [motions to cell phone] before anything else, and that importance of a connection. How can I connect Philip to Aiko. Aiko to Tada. What is their relationship? What is their backstory? Why are they put there all together here? And what individually are they learning from each other?

That lead us to how it ends in the movie. Because we all have something to learn from each other. We just have to be open to it. We have to listen to each other sometimes, even though some people might be saying crazy things. Sometimes you just don't want to face some realities. [laughs]

Sadie: It's easier to hide behind the film when it comes to that. [laughs]

Hikari: There's absolute truth in that. [laughs]

Sadie: There is this softness and tenderness, especially with your visual lens and your visual language of this movie. The camera feels very non-judgmental. It's very curious. Stephen also has a background as cinematographer, and how you were both able to put that on the page is just amazing, just how much of your visual sensibilities were informing that, but also informing the vulnerability in these characters and how you're using that camera and what we're seeing to really just make it more enriched for the viewer?

Hikari: Thank you for the question. I'm also a cinematographer. I used to do a lot of cinematography work back in school and I was a photographer, so using cameras and picking what lens does certain emotion, I'm familiar with it. For me, it's almost like when he's looking out, we have the wide shot. But then also it's almost like looking through the... almost long lens going through very slowly, not just like a ‘boom, boom, boom’ it's really moving, following what he's looking at.

The movement is almost, and this is credit to my editors, moving is really how he moves. So, it was almost like a choreography. Even though the shot is different cutting from this to Phillip’s reaction, there is always movement in it. That's what makes it feel like it's very organic, it's not jarring.

It's very important to me where the camera sits, what emotion I want to tell, how long do I linger and then do we go quick out of it? And how do I keep the audience engaged? [That is] always something that we always discuss... But yeah, thank you for that question.

Sadie: Yeah, of course. And it doesn't hurt to have Brendan [Fraser], who could just say so much with just a look on his face.

Hikari: I know! [laughs]

Sadie: It can be heartbreaking, or really heartwarming. What a talent. There's such a great line in the movie from Aiko, he says, ‘We sell emotions at the rental family.’ Brendan’s character Phillip, has to come to grips with his own deep emotional connection to these new people he encounters – what was the thematic anchor, especially that tug and pull for him, while he's navigating this journey?

Hikari: The anchor, for me, what me as an audience keeps me engaged is about following the character and his emotional journey. I think there's a lot of plot driven stories, and I'm not saying that's bad, but for me, what connects me emotionally is always about his growth, everybody's growth, and that Phillip, perhaps, from the moment, as you said, he can do a lot with his face, he's really not talking a lot like he's just going through, ‘Yes. No. OK.’

He’s somebody who's not afraid to say, ‘I'm sorry. I want to learn.’ He constantly, wants to learn, constantly wants to be accepted. And I think that's his biggest weapon, that when people are vulnerable and say, ‘I want to learn,’ apologizing, open to anything that comes to me, and that's his weapon. He goes with that and continues to go there.

And because of his perseverance, because he's willing to do anything, and because he makes mistakes, but then he also learns. And from that, mistakes, everybody also learns, the people in the company also learned from Phillip standing up for himself… and eventually everybody find who they are as a person, what's been missing their life.

Perhaps for Aiko, standing up for herself, that's something she hasn't done. For Tadas character, he hasn't really faced his reality. And that whole thing as a whole, it really is not just an anchor, but it's really, it's almost like they're on this wave of life. And that's how I feel like I see our lives. We're an ocean, we're in the wave. We're going through one place to the other. It's never just a stop and go. It's always floating, right?

And that's also the theme of the movie, is the ocean. We start from the blue town, color wise, we show the ocean waves in the digital museum with the little butterflies, and then we go to the ocean. That's where I find myself, always when I stand by the ocean, I just feel like I've been washed of everything about all the anxiety, everything just washed me off - the power of nature - from being in a big city to get there, the importance of that where we exist and belong and what kind of things we need in our life is nature energy sometimes. I just kind of wanted to guide the audience to where I feel most comfortable to be vulnerable.

Sadie: That vulnerability and being yourself, feet in the sand, with the ocean, you are your hardest critic, and I have to face myself. That’s where the quietness is usually louder than anything, and having to deal with that.

Hikari: Yeah, right! And in the end, it's about you, right, reflecting yourself. The Divine Being. Holding your hands and then praying for God, and the God is actually existing you, and you are the divine being. And just to realize that, and I really hope the audience - I'm not saying this in any preacher way -if the audience can sense that energy, I hope they do.

Sadie: When I saw your movie, it was a studio screening, and I had a conversation with the studio security guard as I was leaving, and this was the second time he’d watched it. With tears in his eyes, we just had such a lovely conversation, and he was just so thankful for the vulnerability in the movie that allowed him to be vulnerable too. He told me that he had to call his dad immediately, because of that ending shot, he got it – he got the message. So, as the film says, “we sell emotions” you are also in the business of selling emotions as a filmmaker, at the end of the day, what do you hope people walk away with from this movie?

Hikari: Yeah, a few things I would hope. I would hope they pick up the phone and call somebody that they haven't talked to for a while and see how they are. And if they're not, you know, perhaps close to their own family, and they don't have a perfect family, like me, I don't have a father, don't think that's anything negative or low about anything about that. It's just what it is. If you have a family member that you maybe don't get along with, just send a positive vibe out there, right? And just let that be.

And then also look around us and then see, well, who are you surrounding you with. You have a best friend. Probably she or he's your best friend. You'll become a family, right? A co-worker, your neighbor you see every day, perhaps are your so called found family. Something that I really love for the audience to take away - realize that we're all here for each other, and the community is very important.

And then lastly, find the divine being. Divine is all you. If you feel like you have to do something in your life, just do it, you know. Listen to not everybody else. Don't do it just because somebody else says so, or don't not do it because somebody says you can't do that, you know. Just go and do it, and if you make a mistake, great, you learn from it. You only get to grow from making mistakes. Those are the things I really hope the audience take away. And yeah, enjoy life, laugh about it like, hey, you gotta laugh. [laughs]

Rental Family is now in Theaters.