The 2025 film Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, concludes with a quiet, powerful scene that has viewers thinking about its meaning. The story follows an American actor in Japan who finds real connection through a fake job. This ending provides a clear answer to Phillip’s personal journey and reveals the final fate of the characters he meets.
Rental Family is a comedy-drama directed by Hikari. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2025, and was released in the United States on November 21, 2025. The film stars Brendan Fraser as Phillip, an actor in Tokyo who takes a job with a company that rents out actors to be pretend family members or friends for clients.
What Happens to Phillip and Mia
One of Phillip’s main jobs is to act as the father for a young girl named Mia. Her mother, Hitomi, hires Phillip to help Mia get into a good school. Phillip and Mia grow close, but after the school interview, Hitomi asks Phillip to end the relationship. He tells Mia he has to return to America, which makes them both very sad.
Later, Mia sees Phillip acting in a movie on television and realizes he was not her real father. She confronts her mother, who admits the truth. Mia forgives her mother. Hitomi then allows Phillip to visit Mia at her new school. He reintroduces himself using his real name and explains he is an actor. The film shows they are able to start a real friendship after the pretend relationship ends.
The Journey with Kikuo and Its Consequences
Phillip’s other major assignment is to be a journalist interviewing Kikuo, a retired actor with dementia. Kikuo often asks Phillip to help him escape his home to visit his childhood town. Phillip initially says no but later changes his mind. He takes Kikuo on a trip to his old home, where Kikuo finds buried pictures of his past and shares emotional memories.
During the trip, Kikuo falls and is hospitalized. Phillip is arrested for kidnapping. His coworkers from the rental agencyโAiko and Kotaโwork to help him. They pretend to be lawyers to talk to Kikuo and his daughter, Masami, which helps get the charges against Phillip dropped. Not long after, Kikuo passes away peacefully in his sleep. Phillip attends the funeral, which is a significant step for him as he had previously avoided his own father’s funeral.
The Meaning of the Final Shrine Scene
After Kikuo’s funeral, Phillip visits a small Shinto shrine the two had gone to together. Remembering that Kikuo never let him see what was inside, Phillip looks this time. Instead of a religious statue, he finds only a mirror and sees his own reflection. This moment makes him smile.
This scene connects to something Kikuo said earlier in the film: that “God is within us all”. The mirror represents Phillip’s realization that he himself has value and the ability to create meaningful connections. Director Hikari explained the intention was for Phillip, and the audience, to see that what they are searching for is often within themselves.
“We tend to look outside of ourselves for validation or for some kind of divine intervention, but really, it’s about looking within,” Brendan Fraser said about the scene.
Mari Yamamoto, who plays coworker Aiko, shared a similar thought: “When you feel genuine, deep loveโฆ you start to see Godโฆ you start to believe that if somebody can love you that much, there must be something divine and beautiful inside us too.”
How the Rental Family Agency Changes
The film also shows how Phillip’s actions change the rental agency itself. The owner, Shinji, is revealed to also be using the serviceโhis wife and son at home are rented actors. After Phillip calls him out for filling holes in people’s lives without real connection, Shinji thinks deeply about his business.
Aiko, who had been assigned jobs where she was physically hurt by clients, decides to stop playing that role. By the end of the film, Shinji announces the agency will no longer offer the dangerous “apology services” that led to Aiko’s abuse. The agency continues to operate, but with a new understanding, and Phillip keeps working there.
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The Creators on the Film’s Ending
Takehiro Hira, who plays Shinji, revealed the final shrine scene was not the original planned ending. An alternate scene showed Shinji reuniting with his real family, but it was cut. The filmmakers discovered the more powerful, simple ending during the editing process.
“The director found the filmโฆ in the editing process,” Fraser explained. “She discovered the movie she wanted to makeโฆ and that last shot in particularโฆ is a beautiful exclamation point.”
Director Hikari said she hopes audiences see themselves in Phillip’s journey of opening up to new people and cultures. The film ends not with a dramatic event, but with Phillip’s quiet smile of self-acceptance, suggesting he has finally found a sense of belonging and purpose in Tokyo.
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