When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/i><\/p>\n Credit: Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n After Brendan Fraser won the Oscar for The Whale in 2023, the actor said he was being \u201cpicky\u201d about his next starring role<\/a>. Now that his next movie is here, Rental Family, I think his selectiveness paid off. The latest of 2025 movie releases<\/a> is a heartwarming drama that\u2019s already received a lot of buzz at film festivals,<\/a> along with positive words from critics<\/a>. Now that it\u2019s arrived in theaters, we had a chance to discuss the beautiful ending with the cast. SPOILERS are ahead. <\/strong><\/p>\n Rental Family follows an American named Philip who has been living in Tokyo, Japan, as an actor in recent years, doing commercial work mainly. He\u2019s approached by a \u201crental family\u201d company (which actually do exist in Japan) to play make-believe roles to real people. They say they need a \u201ctoken white guy\u201d. Philip\u2019s job gets more complicated with the company when he\u2019s asked to play the long-lost father to a young girl, and a journalist to a retired actor. Let\u2019s get into what happens.<\/p>\n Credit: Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n Philip\u2019s genuine sense of adoration for Mia Kawasaki leads him to get closer to her than intended, but once he completes the job\u2019s main task to help her get into a prestigious school, he disappears from her life as intended, but not without her creating a real mark on his heart. But then Mia sees Philip on her television screen playing a different role, and she confronts her mother about her realization that Philip was never her actual father. Later, Philip is able to see Mia, and they are able to reintroduce each other as friends.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Philip\u2019s other regular customer, the elderly Kikuo, has been begging him to \u201cbreak him out\u201d and take him back to his hometown, and Philip decides to ignore his family\u2019s wishes and do so. They journey in the countryside of Japan, where Kikuo is able to retrieve pictures from his past, and get to relive his roots and the deep emotions he\u2019d been longing to return to. But then, he has a fall, and Philip is arrested for kidnapping. Ultimately, Kikuo and his coworkers at the rental family firm find a way to get Philip absolved of his \u201ccrimes\u201d, but Kikuo dies at the end of the movie. Philip attends his funeral \u2013 a moment that seems healing to him after having some complex emotions with his own father that led him to skip his funeral. He finally visits the shrine that Kikuo often went to. Inside, Philip is surprised to find its contents are a mirror, and he smiles at the discovery.<\/p>\n When I watched the scene, I was overcome with emotion, and haven\u2019t stopped thinking about the final shot since. We\u2019re dealing with a character who didn\u2019t think he could help others, or really make an impact in the busy streets of Tokyo, Japan, but in that moment, he realizes that what he was searching for wasn\u2019t this higher power or \u201cright\u201d answer; it has been himself the whole time.<\/p>\n Credit: Sear<\/p>\n The final shot of the movie harkens back to something Kikuo says earlier in the movie about how \u201cGod is within us all.\u201d Here\u2019s what Brendan Fraser had to say about the ending from his perspective when CinemaBlend spoke to him and his costars<\/a>:<\/p>\n Well, remember that he was told by Kikuo San to go take a look in the shrine when he asked, \u2018What’s in there?\u2019 and he responded, \u2018Maybe later.\u2019 So after the story plays out, he does go to the shrine, and he does make a transformation, and he makes a discovery, an epiphany, even not only was the old man right, and you got me from the great beyond, but I am in there. I was enough all along. I didn’t need to doubt myself. I’m gonna be okay going forward. That’s what I always believed it to be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n From Fraser\u2019s perspective, he finds the ending\u2019s message to be about being \u201cenough\u201d and having it within yourself to emulate the divine through one\u2019s actions. Mari Yamamoto, who plays Aiko, another one of the rental family\u2019s agency employees, added this:<\/p>\n For me, I think, I’ve had times in my life where friends would love me in such a way that I could only think like there has to be a God. It’s like a religious experience being loved by people like that. And then you see God in them in those moments, you know? And, I think the last scene tells me that if I deserve that kind of love, then there must be something inside me, too. I’ve had these experiences, so that last scene sort of resonated. If you look within, you can find the answers, the love that you need, like all of these things. I feel so many things watching that scene, but that’s the one that comes to mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rental Family is an emotional and transformational journey for Philip, who is able to help others, and for those people to help him right back after dealing with years of loneliness and feeling lost. I think the final scene perfectly shows how oftentimes when we\u2019re lost, we tend to blame and look to outside sources, but it\u2019s really within ourselves to find inner strength and happiness if we allow ourselves to. I love what Fraser and Yamamoto had to say about it from their perspective as well.<\/p>\n Credit: Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n During the conversation, Takehiro Hira, who plays the rental family owner Shinji, shared with us that the final shot of Rental Family wasn\u2019t always Philip looking into the shrine. In his words:<\/p>\n It wasn’t the original ending, was it? They changed the ending and I was like, \u2018Brilliant.\u2019 So much more meaningful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Makes you wonder what it used to be. Brendan Fraser added this about the filming process:<\/p>\n Mind you, this was a film that was covered from so many different angles, and there’s much of it that you’re gonna wind up seeing as extras or easter eggs or whatever they’re called these days, months and months from now. And that’s just a testament to how thorough our director Hikari was. That’s why each of these characters presents with such a rich backstory, because in realit,y there was an embarrassment of riches, a performance that was captured, but just didn’t make it to the screen for time. And she was able to take all of that footage and find the story in editorial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n How amazing is it that Rental Family\u2019s ending, which feels just right as is, was actually discovered by writer\/director Hikari while making the film? It makes the ending even better, because it makes me feel like the latest of the great female directors<\/a> learned something about what she wanted to say in the movie while working with the actors and having the experience of filming with them in Japan.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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What Happens At The End Of Rental Family<\/h2>\n
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What Brendan Fraser And The Cast Had To Say About The Ending<\/h2>\n
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Apparently The Ending Was Almost Different?<\/h2>\n