Three years after The Whale, Brendan Fraser returns in a new feel-good drama: trailer
The Oscar-winning actor is doing his Lost in Translation, playing an American actor lost in Japan.
He took the time to choose his roles. Three years after his Oscar for The WhaleBrendan Fraser has been very discreet on our screens, having just crossed paths with Martin Scorsese in Killers of the Flower Moon (in 2023). But here he is back, in a role that promises to be very moving, star of an intimate and moving odyssey: Rental Family – In the lives of othersdirected by Japanese filmmaker Hikari (Tokyo Vice, 37 Seconds).
In this dramatic comedy with a feel-good spirit, which will inevitably remind you a little Lost in TranslationBrendan Fraser plays an American actor adrift in modern-day Tokyo. So much so that he accepts a strange job: being hired by a Japanese “family for rent” agency to play the role of surrogate relatives for strangers lacking a connection. “Throughout these encounters, he interferes in the lives of others, to the point of blurring the line between play and truth. Between solitude, tenderness and moral questioning, he gradually rediscovers a purpose, a feeling of belonging, and the simple beauty of human relationships.
In addition to Brendan Fraser, the cast includes Takehiro Hira (The Amateur, Shogun), Akira Emoto (The Zen Garden, Umami), Mari Yamamoto (Kate, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) and Shannon Mahina Gorman, who makes her film debut.
Rental Family – In the lives of others promises a poignant reflection on solitude and connection in a world where even intimacy can be rented out.
Presented by Searchlight Pictures, the film will be released in theaters on February 4, 2026, in France, after a notable preview in recent days at the La Roche-sur-Yon festival (October 18 and 19). He will also be in Arras (from November 7 to 16).
