Conveniently released on the cusp of awards season in Hollywood, three current movies are not only artistic successes; they’re intimate, humane, emotionally satisfying antidotes to mega-studio blockbuster overload.
‘Rental Family’
It may be hard to know the true nature of famous actors. After all, acting is their profession. But Brendan Fraser has always seemed like one of the good guys. The star of crowd-pleasing hit movies, including The Mummy, George of the Jungle, and Journey to the Center of the Earth, and serious, acclaimed projects such as Gods and Monsters and The Quiet American, Fraser pulled back from the limelight in the late 2000s due to a confluence of personal and professional issues. He apparently made it through those challenges and methodically resumed working during the mid-2010s, mainly in television. Then, he experienced a career resurrection on the film side, sparked by his Oscar-winning lead performance in The Whale. Considering his journey, it’s been easy to root for Fraser. His history of overcoming challenges in life, coupled with his innate likability, made him an ideal choice for the lead role in Rental Family — a gentle mix of human comedy and everyday drama that should assure Fraser of continued affection from audiences and critics.
In a fine-tuned, sweetly sad, and occasionally wry performance that is the beating heart of Rental Family, Fraser plays Phillip, a struggling, somewhat depressed American actor who has decided to make a life for himself in Japan. Phillip seems to have endured more than his share of disappointment while not making a big deal about it. Living on his own in the sprawling city of Tokyo, he’s scrambling for any gig possible, and the most high-profile job he’s managed to get is as a cavity-fighting superhero in a toothpaste ad on TV. Gigs are scarce, so he agrees to sign on with a “rental family” talent agency that offers performers to clients seeking stand-ins for real people in their lives or in the lives of their loved ones. In Phillip’s case, he’s tasked to portray an attendee at a funeral, a journalist to lift the spirits of a retired thespian, and even a little girl’s long-absent father.
Fraser leans into the appealing, hangdog vulnerability that serves as a counterpoint to his imposing size, and it’s a perfect fit for the flailing Phillip, who starts becoming attached to those for whom he’s performing, particularly the elderly actor and the little girl. The eventual end of each assignment leads to turmoil for Phillip, and his reaction to that distress creates problems for the agency as well, putting the company, its boss, and two other employees at risk. All of this forces Phillip to reevaluate his position in the grand scheme of things and the choices he makes. As crucial as Fraser is as the central figure in the story, he isn’t alone in making Rental Family such a pleasure to watch. The supporting cast is outstanding: Takehiro Hira as Shinji, the agency’s owner; Mari Yamamoto as Aiko, one of the agency’s employees; Shannon Mahina Gorman as Mia, the fatherless girl; and Akira Emoto as Kikuo Hasegawa, the retiree.
Ultimate credit must go to the Japanese-born, single-monikered filmmaker Hikari, director and coscreenwriter (along with Stephen Blahut) of Rental Family. This is only Hikari’s second feature-length endeavor, although she directed three episodes of the highly regarded Netflix series Beef. As someone who came to America from Japan as a teenager and eventually carved out a place for herself in the film and television business, she was able to bring her perspective to Phillip’s reverse odyssey from America to Japan. She also had the good sense to let Fraser draw upon his struggles and hard-won expertise to inform his character in Rental Family. The result is an uplifting, gratifying movie that deserves a wide audience.
Rental Family is currently in theaters.
‘Train Dreams’
Based on the novella by Denis Johnson, the tragedy-tinged, tender, achingly beautiful Train Dreams is a detailed, finely wrought portrait of one unpretentious person’s existence and place in the world. Joel Edgerton is faultless and quietly touching as Robert Grainier, a simple, decent man in the rustic Pacific Northwest of the early 20th century. Orphaned as a young boy, the grown-up Granier toils as a lumberjack while his wife and baby daughter wait for his return in their cozy cabin by a river. Robert loves Gladys and their little child, Katie, and is trying to do the very best he can for them, regardless of the burden, the danger, and the separation he must endure when he’s miles away in some lush forest, chopping down tree after tree. When loss and tragedy upend his plans for the future, he must somehow cope with the changes.
Edgerton is on screen for the majority of Train Dreams, and he responds with a rich, still-waters-run-deep turn that cements his status in the upper echelon of today’s leading men. Felicity Jones plays his steadfast wife, Gladys, with serene strength. In the part of a wise, elder lumberjack, William H. Macy is as comfortable as a well-worn pair of boots. And Kerry Condon makes a memorable appearance as an able, philosophical ex-nurse-turned-forest-ranger. Cowritten and directed by Clint Bradley, Train Dreams has a reserve and austere poetry to it, even as it nods at the sweeping technological and cultural changes that shaped American life over the course of Grainier’s time on the planet. Despite its meditative qualities and its glorious, pastoral panoramas, this moving drama will stick with you long after it’s over.
Train Dreams is currently in theaters and available for streaming on Netflix.
‘Rebuilding’
Writer-director Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding functions as a microcosmic look at significant challenges facing ordinary people as a wildfire devastates homes and acreage in modern-day Colorado — and government assistance proves to be less than adequate for those affected by the burn. One of the victims of the disaster is a divorced rancher named Dusty, who has seen his ancestral home and land go up in smoke. He needs to find a way forward while holding on to the bond he has with his precocious young daughter, Callie-Rose, and staying civil with his ex, Ruby, as they navigate shared custody of the kid. Dusty is played by Josh O’Connor (Challengers) who brings a stoicism and nobility and to the part, while Callie-Rose is played by the adorable Lily LaTorre who’s a natural; Ruby is played in unfussy fashion by Meghann Fahy (Drop, HBO’s The White Lotus and Netflix’s Sirens); and Dusty’s mother-in-law is played with down-home bonhomie by Amy Madigan who recently earned rave notices for a radically different part in the elevated horror movie Weapons. Like Train Dreams, Rebuilding is about surviving strife with grace, but it’s also a refreshing, inspiring drama about finding strength in community.
Rebuilding is currently in theaters.