🎬 2026 Movie #7 | Rental Family (2025)

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This blog is a personal journal of all the movies, Tv-Shows, & Games I consume during a year which enhances my overall experience. The ratings that I give are fully based on my personal preference and enjoyment at the time of watching and I'm writing spoiler-free reviews. (All HBD earnings are used to get extra Hive Power Delegations!)

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January Movie Marathon Month

I have grown a bit of a tradition in January to watch all the 'Youtuber Top 10 Films Of The Year' videos to catch up with everything that was potentially good in the previous year. I'm still catching up on making posts on the ones that I watched so far and continue to stick with watching more 2025 movies in February.

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This is one of those movies where I read the plot and saw the setting of, which instantly triggered me as something that was potentially made for me, and sure it was! I would love to have paid to go see it in the cinema, but with a relases where it was available to watch on my tv, I could not wait. It was the movie I choose when a friend came over knowing it likely would not be bad going in with high expectations. If anything, I love asian-american movies especially if they take place in Japan. Some similar ones on the top of my head that I absolutely loved were The Farewell, Winter in Sokcho, Lost In Translation, Past Lives, ... & Rental Family can be added to that list for sure!!

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Rental Family (8.6/10)

Reading the plot of the movie is pretty much all you need to know going into this one. "An American actor in Tokyo struggling to find purpose lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers. He rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the beauty of human connection.". This alone instantly sold me along with the tags it gets of Coming-of-Age / Psychologocal Drama / Comedy. The movie stars Brandan Fraser who has made somewhat of a comback after doing The Whale and is from female director Hikari who I had not seen anything from as it's only her 2nd movie if I'm right.

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The movie starts out with a rather lonely Brandan Fraser as an american actor in Japan who isn't really finding work anymore and gets a job at a rental family business where people can hire actors to pretend certain roles in their lives. It's one of those asian culture things that is different as the west as saving face and kind of pretending is quite common there. It wasn't fully clear at the start but the first job he had to to was pretend marry a japanese lesbian women who wanted to give her distant family what they wanted. This kind of is an introduction to the service and afterwards there are a couple main clients & storylines the movie is actually about which are best to be discovered.

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This movie for me just hit everything right. It doesn't take itself too serious, there is some drama but it's funny also hitting all the right emotional notes. The main themes also were relatable, as earlier that evening I was talking to a friend about how the world has turned to people trying to make money instead of actually wanting to help people which is one of the things the movie is about. At 1 hour and 49 minutes, it also had the perfect lenght as not too long and not too short exactly what was needed to tell the story.

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With movies, often with the first frame I can already estimate if it's going to be great or not and this one for sure had it instantly. When it came down to the direction and the visuals, they were I would say distractingly beautiful. Just each new frame looked absolutely perfect with incerdible environments, to the point where I was thinking all the time, 'that really looks good' which took me out of the also great story a bit. It kind of reminded me of Nosferatu but with a completely different style and a story that was actually good instead of only stunning visuals. I for sure will keep an eye out for what this director brings next and will add her previous movie to my backlog watchlist.

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Trailer (Minor Spoilers)

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Conclusion
Movies like Rental Family are just totally my thing. A combination of Asian & American taking place in the beautiful Japan. A Comedy Drama which isn't too serious, a heartwarming story and message with also stunning visuals and direction. I had quite high expectations but the movie still blew me away and I absolutely loved it and I'm looking forward to watch it again one day. I just really enjoyed watching this movie from start to end while it was stuck in my head days after. I'm giving it a super solid 8.6/10 !!!

#	2026 Watched Movies	Score
#01	The Ballad of Wallis Island	7.4/10
#02	Sorry, Baby	7.1/10
#03	The Long Walk	6.9/10
#04	Sentimental Value	6.5/10
#05	The baltimorons	7.0/10
#06	Bugonia	7.3/10
#07	Rental Family	8.6/10

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