Hikari’s film about an unsuccessful actor in Japan who finds work at a rental agency playing stand-in friends and family members feels underdeveloped, but is saved by its thoughtful performances.

It could be enormously clunky, but the quiet warmth of Fraser’s performance, the delicacy of Hikari’s direction and the ravishing location work just about distract from the teeth-smarting sentimentality.

With Fraser as her figurehead, it’s certainly a work of broad and deep compassion. But there are self-imposed limitations that you’d wish Hikari and her co-writer Stephen Blahut would cross, if not purely out of curiosity.

Rental Family doesn't work as a well-rounded drama nor as a heartwarming comedy. It works as something more fragile, and for that very reason, more interesting. [Full review in Spanish]