Six years ago, the inimitable Werner Herzog made “Family Romance, LLC,” an odd pseudo-documentary about a Japanese service that specialized in hiring actors to play a loved one, colleague or potential suitor — whatever the client required. The company was real (or inspired by one profiled in The New Yorker), but the examples were not. Need someone to absorb your wife’s anger over that extramarital affair without inconveniencing your mistress? Just ask Rental Family to send a proxy. Trying to fool your once-famous father into thinking he hasn’t been forgotten? Rental Family can send a “reporter” over to interview him.
Maybe Herzog isn’t so inimitable after all, for Japanese director Hikari (best known for “Beef”) has made a film in which Brendan Fraser embodies an American actor struggling to get by in Tokyo. His character, Phillip Vandarpleog, reluctantly agrees to work for the eponymous company, accepting a gig…
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.imdb.com ’
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