I love culturally nuanced films, and The Rental Family is definitely one of them. Co-written by the director Hikari and Stephen Blahut, it follows an American actor who begins working for a Japanese rental family service, which hires actors to stand in for missing or non-existent people in real lives.

The film emphasizes vulnerability and connection in a gentle, non-preaching way. Apparently, the script was developed during the pandemic, and the isolation and loneliness of that period inspired the writers to make these feelings part of the story’s core.