If you’ve been reading my posts on social media for a while, you’ll know that I like films that can be categorised as feel-good. I’m completely unapologetic about that. I want to emerge from the cinema with a warm glow. I’m not looking for films to impart some profound truth or revelation about the world or a particular topic. I want to be entertained and made happy. Rental Family is that type of film. I loved it.
The cinematography is superb and beautifully showcases Tokyo and then rural Japan. Several sequences look like direct homages to Hitchcock’s Rear Window. Both at the start and at a pivotal point near the beginning of the third act.
The music is also good – I’m listening to the soundtrack as I write this. The cast is excellent. Including Mari Yamamoto, whom I thought I recognised. Turns out she was in several episodes of Pachinko. I love that show.
At its core, the film is about loneliness, the goodness of human connections, and found families. While some may question the deceit in the friend or family member for rent concept at the core of the main character’s job, and the damage this can lead to for the people involved, the redemption arc, while foreseeable and predictable given the type of film, outweighs the harm in the cases shown. For me anyway.
It was easy for me to rate Rental Family 9/10 stars. I’ll be buying it on the Apple Store for future viewing.