Project Hail Mary Review!

Project Hail Mary is feel good hope in a hard science fiction film with a reluctant astronaut, Grace, unlikely teaming up to save the stars and Earth! The movie is based on the 2021 novel by Andy Weir who had also written The Martian (2011). In turn that story was also adapted to a film in 2015. He is a producer on this film. The film is directed and produced by the team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. 

The last movie the duo had directed was 22 Jump Street (2014) having attempted to direct Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse (2027) was co-written and produced by Lord and Miller. Drew Goddard is the executive producer and screenwriter who also adapted The Martian. A short note: there is strobing lights and slight vertigo with the screen. It begins with red light on a plastic coat with a zipper in the center. There is also a helmet where we see blinking eyes! 

A robot electronic arm pulls out a breathing tube from the subject’s mouth. This shaggy bearded man, Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) is asked by the ship’s voice, Mary (Priya Kansara) a question to check his mental accuity, “What is 2+2?” Gosling traveled to space as Neil Armstrong in First Man (2018). He is also a producer on the film and was given the manuscript before the novels publication. Kansara played Ria in the action comedy, Polite Society (2023). Mary almost acts as another character to the lonely Grace, answering his questions, and reporting ship functions.

Grace clamps his jaw twice. His disorientation is part of the journey. Grace flops out of the bed and across the room. He is dressed in a plastic body suit. Grace reaches a ladder and climbs up it checking on the other passengers. The woman, Olesya (Milana Vayntrub), has a face frozen in a deathly rictus. Vayntrub was in the sci fi comedy, Other Space (2015) as Tina Shukshin. The next bunk is listed Yao, LJ, with the reading Deceased! The pilot of the ship, Ken Leung plays Yao. Leung portrayed Commander Zhao in the Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) show.  

Grace stumbles over to a window to see unfamiliar stars! He starts to walk into a several paneled video room. It is similar to the Star Trek holodeck showing Earth scenes. Grace takes out a white track suit. Mary says, “Please record video diary.” Grace ignores the computer and says pilot. Mary responds, “Pilot deceased.” He says to the computer to start “Operation Go Home.” Funny. Next, Grace asks Mary to “Call Earth.” The computer responds that it will take 11 years! 

He starts to scroll track the flight path to Earth. Grace asks the computer of the location of the fuel. He uses the fuel used to calculate the distance. 113.8 years away! Grace covers his head at the overwhelming situation. He’s a long way from home and the best example of the character for me is the Don Knotts film, The Reluctant Astronaut (1967) where he plays a janitor accidentally sent into space! Then, there is a television report on the Arclight probe sent to the Petrova Line. There is black clusters seen.  

This moves to the science class of Grover Cleveland Junion High in the Bay Area. Grace is teaching the class using a microphone to create sand distortions.The class wants to play the Lava Game. They toss a hackey sack colored like the Earth to get answers. Grace asks for speed of light. This is correctly answered, 186,000 miles per second, by Olivia (Annelle Olaleye). She asks back to Grace about the dots eating the sun. He explains that a scientist, Irina Petrova, found infrared light forming a line from the sun to Venus. 

This was called the Petrova Line. Grace admits “They seem to be dimming the sun.” This causes a panic with the class. Grace contemplates the impact and Eva Stratt (Sandra Hüller) enters the classroom. Stratt is the head of the world response to the crisis. Hüller was in the drama, Anatomy of a Fall (2023). An impressive part, she has the calm demeanor of a leader, but also a deep insight into people. She reveals that over the next 30 years, the temperature will drop 15 degrees! This would start a new ice age, freeze water systems, and cause mass extinctions. 

Stratt says, “The best minds in the entire world are on it.” A consotrium of scientific minds is something that makes me think of the film, Tomorrowland (2015). The group was called Plus Ultra that help build the future. Then, we move to the current day Grace drinking bags of vodka. He finds photos of his fellow astronaugts. Also, a polaroid of himself alone. He dances with a mop in a lab. Returning to the conversation with Stratt, she mentions Grace’s paper on rejecting water is needed for life, the Goldilocks Principle. 

He presented it at the UNESCO conference in Denmark. They walk outside of the school. Dark coated agents begin to surround him. Grace asks the name of an agent, the agent (Lionel Boyce) answers that his name is Carl. Boyce stars in the series, The Bear, as Marcus. At a lab, Grace is in a large environmental suit and on the other side is a room of military officials, scientists, and Stratt. He tests a sample of the black, oily Astrophage, the star eater. Grace says “It’s a tiny, alien cell.” 

He also finds that it is made of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, water, disproving his theory! Grace sits in a tunnel and explains to Stratt that the Astrophage gives off infrared radiation to move. She leaves him saying they have 347 astrobiologists to work on the Astrophage. Stratt adds, “I left you three dots.” On the Hail Mary ship, Grace walks past three gold plates showing human evolution. He holds the Earth hackie sack. Flashback to the lab, he speaks to Carl at the other side of a room via a walkie talkie, “Hey Carl, do we have an expense account?” 

They start shopping at Home Depot throwing in rolls of electrical tape and a few other items into the shopping cart. They are almost playful which makes Carl from stern guard to someone who is on the side of Grace. They start shopping at Home Depot throwing in rolls of electrical tape into the shopping cart. Carl, Grace, and other assistants begin the experiment, completely covering the walls of the lab. A very DIY science experiment. Grace finds that the three Astrophage are gone, but contained in the lab. 

He needs complete darkness in the tunnel to prove the Carl Hypothesis, Carl thought they had moved, so the tunnel door is closed. Grace finds with infrared light that the three Astrophage in a corner. They moved towards a CO2 source like Venus. He also finds that there is another Astrophage, they reproduce in a CO2 environment and then go to a light source like the sun. Grace says, "We're fathers, Carl", funny! The discovery is told to Stratt who has ordered a F/A-18F Super Hornet jet to take him to next project area. 

Grace is sickened by the maneuvers of the jet, the thrust and rolls. He finds himself at an aircraft carrier at sea. Grace is still sick and uses a traffic cone while talking to Stratt. She takes him over to a room filled with scientists including others on a screen. Grace explains how to breed Astrophage. He is asked if 2 million kilograms can be made of the Astrophage. He is not cleared to discuss Project Hail Mary so Stratt has him stand up and gives him the top secret clearance. She tells Grace that they followed the Petrova Line ended at a star, Tau Ceti, 11.9 light years away. 

Grace wonders why it stopped there. There is a collective "We don't know" from the entire table! They hope to send a near light spaceship to Tau Ceti, using the Astrophage as fuel. Then, collect information, and send it back on "beetle" probes. Stratt says it is a long shot. Which leads Grace to the project name, "Hail Mary." The astronauts will be in a medically induced coma for the journey. Now, Grace pulls the bodies out to give them an informal memorial. He hadn't time to know Olesya and Yao so he uses the photographs to remember them. Yao, Grace says, makes a funny face in every picture. 

He apologizes to Olesya for taking her vodka and her picture sneaking into the Kremlin Grace says is "legendary." He starts to cry as he ejects their bodies out of the airlock and says, "I'll do my best." There is a beautiful shot of Hail Mary moving silently in space against the stars. This is the hard sci fi of the film with spaceships making no sound unlike starfighters racing across the Death Star. Space is a vaccuum so there is no sound or in this film, songs, and the score by Daniel Pemberton. He provided the score for Spider-Man: Across the Universe (2023). 

The camera work and visuals are impressive with cinematography by Greig Fraiser who also worked on Dune Part Two (2024). The computer announces that the engine cut-off as they have reached Tau Ceti. Grace tries to slip into the pilot's seat, but remarks to the computer, "I'm not the pilot!" We see the gyroscope peeking out of the ship like a gopher out of its hole with the film sped up, the awkwardness is funny! Grace sees the break in the Petrova Line. Mary warns Grace and a ship that looks like it is made of gold wires appears! Grace takes hold of ship's joystick to pull the Hail Mary away from this new ship. The Hail Mary has the massive ship follow, Grace accelerates a bit, and the alien ship moves forward. Grace asks Mary, "Shields up!" Funny, very Star Trek, but of course Hail Mary has no shields. A metal capsule is thrown from the new ship. Grace suspects that it might be a message. It bounces off Hail Mary's hull. Mary suggests a space walk. Grace tries to get into the red space suit to go EVA, Extravehicular Activity. He moves over to the hatch, takes one look at the ship, and tries to scramble back inside! 

Five+ Earth hacky sacks out of Five! 

#ProjectHailMary, #PhilLord, #ChristopherMiller, #DrewGoddard, #GreigFraser, #DanielPemberton, #AndyWeir, #RyanGosling, #SandraHuller, #LionelBoyce, #MilanaVayntrub, #KenLeung, #PriyaKansara

Hoppers Review!

Hoppers is very funny with touches of some animal wisdom, loveable characters, and a strong story! It is directed by Daniel Chong also with a co-story credit. He is known as the creator of the Cartoon Network show, We Bare Bears, and he wrote and directed the We Bare Bars: The Movie (2020). The co-story writer and screenplay is by Jesse Andrews who also did the same work for Luca (2021). An opening tease has an electrical surge travels along wires to a robot.

We hear drum rolls almost like the somber beginning of a military march or a call to arms for the young hero. The music is by Mark Mothersbaugh who composed music for A Minecraft Movie (2025). A pond is seen and a turtle merges out of it. The diorama is labeled Crush after the turtle in Finding Nemo (2003). The kids poke at him until Crush is flipped upside down and then rush outside for recess. Crush is righted by young Mabel (Lila Liu). She puts him in her backpack andr] then finds animals in other classrooms! 

A janitor sees Mabel and her large backpack and chases her to the school’s front door that has several teachers. One of them remarks, “She’s doing it again.” Mabel scrambles over the teachers! It ends with Mabel and her mother at the principal’s office. The shot is from kid’s height so it is like the adults in the Peanuts cartoons. Her mother leaves Mabel at her grandmother’s house. Grandma wears a green jacket with a Beaverton Wildlife Society patch. 

Grandma (Karen Huie) looks for Mabel who is up in Huie provided the Dog Lady’s voice in the animated movie, Abominable (2019). Mabel is sitting on a tree branch that is filled with yellow flowers. Grandma takes Mabel through some grass field to moss-covered rock. It is a orange and green moss. She tells Mabel about her anger. Grandma says, “You just gotta be very still, watch, and listen.” Very wise, meditation to calm yourself, epecially with nature around you. There is so many lessons to learn from this movie. Mabel hears frogs, ducks swimming, blue spiders, and a spider. 

Mabel asks if they can come back to the rock and Grandma says they can return every day and that it is their “special place.” They wander the woods, clean the sides of roads as drivers toss trash, the film doesn’t hit you over the head with an environmental message, it shows what goes on instead of tells you about it. In her car, Mabel’s mother wants to move across the country, but Mabel insists that Grandma needs her and stays in Beaverton. 

We see Grandma use a cane and then Mabel notices a medical band around her wrist. A serious illness. We move to the Present Day. Mabel is watching television coverage of the new Beaverton Beltway. There is no exact location of the town of Beaverton, but Beaverton, Oregon celebrated Hoppers Day! Major Jerry (Jon Hamm) is happy on the construction of the new beltway. Hamm voiced Louis in the cartoon show, Big City Greens (2018). Mabel now voiced by Piper Curda at 19 years old. Curda was on the Disney teen comedy, I Didn’t Do It. She can sing, Curda was in the Teen Beach 2 (2015), but the film’s songs are sadly not from any of the characters.  

Mabel skateboards through town with a cast on her right arm. A construction crew has placed dynamite along the beaver dam of Mabel’s Glade. She rushes onto the dam and then threatens to pull out the dynamite! Passing through the construction workers is Mayor Jerry. He has had many confrontations with Mabel, in flashback, we see her at city hall, in a park veranda, and even at his house! Mabel refuses to leave and then we see police body  carry her away! Jerry says that she has 48 hours to turn in a petition. 

The town residents ignore and reject Mabel’s petition. She wearily knocks on the door answered by an elderly man. He thinks she is from the senior center. Mabel helps around his house as she tells him about the animals of the Glade. Still, the petition doesn’t quite work out for Mabel. She then heads to Beaverton University. Mabel bursts into the classroom currently taught by Dr. Sam (Kathy Najimi). Part of the trio of witches, Mary Sanderson, was reprised by Najimi in Hocus Pocus 2 (2022). 

Dr. Sam says Mabel is enrolled in that class! Next to Dr. Sam is Nisha (Aparna Nancherla), her co-worker with suspicious eyes behind large glasses. Mabel explains about the petition, which she didn’t run through the classroom, but Dr. Sam says all of the animals are gone from The Glade. She says “they left when the resident beaver left”, the beaver is one of the keystone species. At The Glade, empty of water, Mabel sets up sticks in a pyramid shape and places vegetables around it. 

She places her phone playing the Sound of Rushing Water. The power for her phone fades as it turns to night. Mabel flashes back to arguing with her mother saying, “Mom, I’m not moving across the country.” She insists to stay because grandma needs her. It is not clear why her family moves away without Grandma who is independent. Mabel shares Grandma’s love of the wilderness, but it may be her family falls into the indifference of the townspeople. Out of the tall grass, a beaver crawls down to Mabel’s food! The beaver looks at it and continues on its way to the other side.  

The beaver reaches the road, a truck stops, and the beaver is taken into the truck! Mabel tries to follow the truck on her skateboard. The truck enters Beaverton University. The beaver scurries into the university, Mabel is right behind it, and the beaver uses a security card to enter a room! She also has to dodge Nisha who also goes into the room. Mabel sneaks in and sees the beaver placed on a disc. This wakens Dr. Sam in a chair. While she talks with Nisha, Mabel picks up the beaver, she is shocked that Dr. Sam is experimenting on animals, even knocking over a box of animal parts! 

She tries to rescue the beaver until Nisha tells her, “Mabel, you’re holding a robot!”She flips on the lab lights to showthe robot parts. Mabel sees a 3D scanner build a beaver. Dr. Sam explains that the plan is called Hoppers. Nisha takes out a bunny robot and points out that her head to the bunny’s head, “We put this into this”, then Dr. Sam joins her, very funny! Mabel says it is like Avatar which Dr. Sam says it is nothing like Avatar, funny! It deflects the comparison, but I actually think it is more like the animated Brother Bear (2003) where Kenai is put into a bear to understand the animal world. 

Dr. Sam tells Mabel that her early attempts had failed, she dressed in a beaver costume which scared away the animals. Then, a robot beaver, all metal, did the same. This was until Nisha and their colleague worked on the Hoppers program. Mabel has found a way to save The Glade and jumps into the chair. A device like a giant metal hair dryer heat shield drops down on Mabel’s head. The helmet runs her conscious through a cable to the robot beaver. A screen shows the status of the Hopping. This is interesting using technology to understand the nartural, animal, world. 

It is why Dr. Sam and other Hoppers failed to learn the animal world since they made a successful vessel, but only learn from the animal world through technology and observation, the outside looking in. Mabel is the only one because she can understand animals and their world. Her flaw though is her anger, too much animal nature, and learns the lesson her Grandma tried to teach her. She evades Nisha and Dr. Sam’s attempt to capture her and runs out of the building. Dr. Sam can speak to Mabel, but she is swtiched off by a button on the beaver ear! Mabel hides in a grate until Dr. Sam and Nisha search in the night. 

Then, an owl snatches her up, Mabel can understand the owl, but she is dropped into the forest! 

Mabel wakes up in a pile of leaves to find she can understand all of the animals. She asks several animals about a beaver, but is ignored, just like the Beaverton citizens with her petition, but Mabel doesn’t easily give up. A spider points out the stream for her. Mabel finds a lazy beaver named Loaf (Eduardo Franco), sitting on a mound in the middle of the stream. Franco voiced Daryl in this year’s animated comedy, GOAT. It looks like Loaf has his eyes closed in an easy going slacker or loafer! Mabel tries to convince him to go to The Glade. Then, a bear rushes in to stuff Loaf into her mouth! 

Mabel jumps on the bear, Ellen, voiced by Melissa Villaseñor from Saturday Night Live. She also voiced Taffyta in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). So I have to note that I did not recognize any of the voice actors except Jon Hamm as the mayor, maybe because I saw him in a video clip. Loaf is happy with being eaten, but Mabel doesn’t understand that she broke Pond Rules. Ellen carries Mabel around in her mouth as the animals gather at the giant mound called the Super Lodge. Atop it is the beaver, King George (Bobby Moynihan), he has a dark upper lip like a moustache and a tiny crown. Moynihan is of course an SNL colleague, it is a mini-reunion, and voiced Forgetter Bobby in Inside Out 2 (2024). He played Panda in We Bare Bears.  

George, he is King of the Mammals, is introduced to Mabel. The animals welcome Mabel including Tom Lizard voiced by Tom Law. This is the first part for Law who was a storyboard artist for We Bare Bears. Tom Lizard is absurd with his frantic, happy waving so he is a break out character. His rolling black eyes makes him and other animals look like Muppets. We see with Dr. Sam and other humans looking at the animals that they have all black eyes, no white area, sclera. She doesn’t know what is Pond Rules so George shows her around explaining the rules. 

He explains it is very crowded so they need rules, “Pond Rule number one, Don’t be a stranger.”George points out the names of all of the animals around him and greets them. One fish, Steve, says hello and is eaten by a bear. This introduces the second rule, “If you gotta eat, eat.” This explains the predator and prey cycle, but I’m certain is a rule parents will use for their kids or vice versa! The last rule is “We’re all in this together.” George explains that it means “you look out for others who need looking out for” stuffing a mouse into an overfilled hole. Love these rules that are very practical, but the last one I was certain would be connected to the High School Musical (2006) song, but nope, no tie-in.    

#Hoppers, #DanielChong, #JesseAndrews, #MarkMothersbaugh, #PiperCurda, #BobbyMoynihan, #EduardoFranco, #TomLaw, #Melissa Villasenor, #JonHamm, #KathyNajimi, #AparnaNancherla, #LilaLiu  

Warner Bros. Studio Tour and Sinners Exhibit!

Yesterday, it was back at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour to catch the Sinners exhibit especially before the Academy Awards! I took the general tour. Right now is the SoCal Resident discount of $12 that runs until June 7th. What was new for this tour was walking into Mrs. Deagle’s house in Gremlins (1984) located on Midwest Street. This is a standing set not a facade so it was empty to be redressed for filming. The guide said the floor was built to be soundless so it wouldn’t interefere with recording. There was no second floor even though there was stairs. It was just girders most likely for lighting. I also liked that there was a fireplace. I also liked seeing the front of the William B. Abbott Public School for Abbot Elementary. The guide said the rest of the rest of the school was blue screened for it was only the ground floor. 

Sinners costumes of Smoke and Stack, Warner Bros Studio Tour, author’s photo. 

It looked like the studio was preparing for Say Yes to the Prom, a reality show that has high school students get ready for the prom. I think I saw a local news channel cover it. The same theater where I had seen Superman the Movie had the show on the marquee with racks of dresses to the side. Also, there were buses down a street to take in the high schoolers to the theater. Studio 48 has the Central Perk Cafe for sandwiches and drinks and next to it is the Friends gift store where you exit to take the tram to the DC Universe Exhibit with Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. To the left of the gift store is Stage 48: Script to Screen. The exhibit runs until April 30th. The first part is a room filled with Sinners costumes by Ruth E. Carter. Also, props and prostethics used in the film. Just on your left side is the screen used costume of Sammie (Miles Caton), mostly browns, next to him is his red chair that was used when he was an older blues singer. 

Sammie’s costume and 1932 Dobro Cyclops resonator guitar, Warner Bros Studio Tour, photo by the author. 

Above Sammie is his 1932 Dobro Cyclops resonator guitar. Ludwig Goransson used it to play on the soundtrack. To the far side is a card that read that the dress of Pearline (Jayme Lawson) was missing because of use by the Academy! A guide said that it was for display for the costumes at the Academy. Continuing on is the promotion poster of the older Sammie (Buddy Guy) at Bob’s 950 Lounge for his North American tour. In case was the prostethic neck piece for Remmick (Jack O’Connell) and his fangs. Towards the end of the exhibit was the suit of Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) standing next to the overalls of Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller). There was a case for the prosethetic lower face and gruesome head of Cornbread as a vampire with fangs. On the other side, by the entrance, is the Club Juke sign. Then, a case with Stack’s prosthetic and fangs. Next to it was a series of costumes; the pink dress of Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), the Smokestack Twins, the red fedora and dark suit of Stack and the blue cap and suit of Smoke (both of course played by Michael B. Jordan). 

Costumes from Selena (1997), Warner Bros Studio Tour, author’s photo. 

There is a gun box prop below them. Lastly, there was the dark blue dress of Annie (Wunmi Mosaku). Extensive, but no Ruth E. Carter notes, and missing the couple, Lisa (Helena Hu) and Bo Chow (Yao). The next room had costumes from Minecraft (2025) with costume with pink jacket of Garrett (Jason Mamoa), a Creeper prop, and the blue shirt of Steve (Jack Black). It continues with costumes from Crazy Rich Asians. Then, three outfits from the film, Selena (1997). The standout of the classic costume hall was the red costume and rapier of Errol Flynn. This was from Adventures of Don Juan (1948). 

Next to him is Olivia de Havilland’s dress from one of my all time favorite films, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). I would have liked to see Flynn’s Robin Hood costume next to de Havilland. The DC Universe Exhibit was a little different than on Superman Day. There was the costume of Ultra Man. There was also a missing costume, the Superman costume worn by David Corenswet) which the sign red, “currently being used by production.” Also, new was the Fortress of Solitude costume of Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio) and also the arctic coat for Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). Another fun Warner Bros. Studio Tour especially with the Sinners exhibit before the Academy Awards, no costumes from One Battle After Another, and also seeing new costumes! 

#WarnerBrosStudioTour, #MidwestStreet, #AbbottElementary, #SayYesToTheProm, #Friends, #Stage48ScriptToScreen, #Sinners, #MilesCaton, #LudwigGoransson, #JaymeLawson, #BuddyGuy, #JackOConnell, #DelroyLindo, #OmarBensonMiller, #HaileeSteinfeld 

#MichaelBJordan, #WunmiMosaku, #HelenaHu, #Yao, #Minecraft, #JasonMamoa, #JackBlack, #Selena, #ErrolFlynn, #AdventuresOfDonJuan, #OliviaDeHavilland, #TheAdventuresOfRobinHood, #DCUniverseExhibit, #Superman, #UltraMan, #DavidCorenswet, #SaraSampaio, #NicholasHoult 

Re:tro Re:view - Rental Family!

Rental Family is the only film that made me laugh in five minutes and broke my heart ten minutes later! It is directed and co-written by Hikari who also directed 37 Seconds (2019), a Japanese drama movie. Stephen Blahut, the film’s co-writer, was the cinematographer for 37 Seconds. Rental Family is currently streaming on Hulu. The movie opens with a blurry of activity on Tokyo streets. Crowds of people walking this way or that way. The frantic music is by Jon Thor Birgisson and Alex Somers. 

At a train station, Philip Vanderploeg (Brendan Fraser) rushes to the train, but the doors close on him. Fraser is of course coming from his Academy Award winning performance in The Whale (2022). Philip finally makes to an office building for an audition. Another actor leaves the room. Philip shyly says he is there, and brought in. He introduces himself and then goes into his lines about finding a culprit in some crime drama. Philip then bows and leaves, outside he has an uncertain expression, then we find himself outside of a set. 

He is on a chair in a massive tree suit! It’s funny! Another actor walks out in a pink bunny suit. We close in on Phillip’s overwhelmed face. He is at an almost empty bar, Philip asks him how he knew, and the bartender replies, “Your face.” Philip enters a crowded subway and takes a seat on the subway train. You can feel his intense loneliness. He sees on the other side, a salary man asleep. He returns to his apartment, getting the mail, inside his closet is a costume that looks like Mr. Sparkle from The Simpsons, hilarious! 

Philip sets his meal next to the window and looks at the apartments in the next building. He sees a couple giving each other a cheer with bottles, a woman walking to her balcony, and an elderly man hanging up clothes by the window. On the outside looking in. Haunting music by Birgisson and Somers. Then, a pan out as we see Philip alone with his drink. Later, his cell phone buzzes, Philip wakes up to take a call from his agent from EZ Talent, Sonia (Helen Sadler) who has a job for him at Saitama, it is about a 23 minute ride by public transport. 

He asks her what is the part and Sonia answers, “Sad American.” In his suit, Philip greets the receptionist in Japanese and she whispers for him to go inside. It is a funeral for Mr. Daito. Philip tries to quietly move through a row of mourners. Miss Nakajima (Mari Yamamoto) is called up to say words about her friend. Yamamoto currently plays Dr. Keiko Miura in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. She says she was in love with him and they had their first kiss. The mourners cry. Mr. Daito (Shohei Uno) is in his coffin and Philip is startled. 

Miss Nakajima cries about his early death and Mr. Daito cries. The mourners are asked to say final words to Mr. Daito. They bow to him and Philip sees Mr. Daito with a smile on his face. Tado Shinji (Takehiro Hira) who has arranged the funeral is thanked by the family. Hira also stars in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and plays Hiroshi Randa. It has given Mr. Daito “a reason to exist.” It seems absurd, almost dark humor, but finding value in death, even as a performance with an actor like Philip, is meaningful. Philip walks back to the room with the empty coffin. He tries to squeeze himself in the small coffin and closes his eyes. 

He is wakened by Shinji speaking in Japanese who tells Philip is docking his pay for being late. Shinji tells him it will be 15 minutes until the next service! Shinji thanks his workers and Philip runs up to ask if it was all fake. He is told that it is a “specialized performance.” Philip is asked how long he has been in Japan and his reply is seven years. This conversation shifts to Japanese and English from line to line. Shinji gives him his business card before he walks away. 

It reads Rental Family, Inc. Philip heads over to the company and knocks. He enters seeing Miss Nakajima and another worker, Kota (Kimura Bun), while Shinji is on the phone. Bun played Koji in the crime drama series, Tokyo Vice. He finishes his call and then has Philip take a seat across from his chair. Philip jokingly says the business is selling people. Shinji says, “We sell emotion.” He explains that they play all roles for a person, acting as a surrogate, “to help connect to what is missing.” They could be family members, boyfriends or girlfriends, coworkers, or best friends. 

This seems a wild concept, but on second thought there is the Big Brother and Big Sister organizations. Rental family is more transactional, but this may make Japanese. It started in the 1990s and also includes South Korea and China. Philip brings up therapists, but Tado  answers that it would be disrepectful to get such help. He wonders what his job would be and Tado says they need “a token white guy.” Funny! Philip apologizes and then gets up to leave. Tado says he loved his toothpaste commercial. 

We see billboard screens of the commercial. A family is attacked by little black-suited plaque creatures. The famliy wonders what to do when Philip appears in superhero costume, the Clearbright Man. The family dances with him before he flies off on his giant toothbrush! This is hilarious like Mr. Sparkle in The Simpsons. Too funny! Kota recognizes him and renacts the commercial! Tado says he can go back to his acting jobs and try Rental Family. There is a beautiful shot of Mt. Fuji, hazy in the distance, above Tokyo. The cinematographer is Takuro Ishizaka. 

Aiko sitting next to Philip is discussing the terms of a wedding. The company provides guests except the client’s parents and family. The client, Yoshie Ikeda (Misato Morita) nods in agreement. There will be the ceremony, reception, and then move to Canada. Philip asks in English why they will go to Canada, Aiko explains that Brian Callahan is Canadian and his job is there. He asks Yoshie in English about what her parents think about the wedding. She replies that they are surprised, but happy. 

We see Yoshie walking away while Philip asks if she can’t leave her family, Aiko says she loves them. At night on the street, Aiko tells him to memorize everything in the folder. The buildings of Tokyo, the next day, with storm clouds building up. Tado greets the guests. He checks in with Aiko about the wedding. Kota knocks on the door of the room for Brian (Phillip). He opens the door to find an empty room! Yoshie has a white kimono, wataboshi, hood, and pale make-up. Kota politely shuffles over to Aiko. They head outside and Kota reports he can’t find Phillip! Runaway groom! Aiko rushes over to Tado to tell him the situation. They meet with the family as the trio discuss what to do. Tado has them take each floor to search for the groom! 

They rush into rooms, down stairs, all the while trying to act if there is no emergency. It’s kinda funny in the awkwardness. Aiko checks the men’s room for Phillip. At a stall, she finds him in his black kimono, he says he needs a moment. He is reluctant because the wedding is a lie. The concept of Rental Family is making him nervous. This frustrates Aiko so she stands over the stall on a step ladder to say it’s not a lie. I like her frustration about his nervousness. Aiko says the parents get their memories of the wedding and the bride gets her freedom. She rushes him out. This contrasts with the gentle flute playing, a waterfall, and the wedding party walking up a path with a little lake. It is beautiful and seeing the bride and groom makes me think of James Bond and Kissy Suzuki in You Only Love Twice (1967). 

They drink from the sake and say their vows. The wedding photographer taking photos of the family, Philip smiles as well as his “mother in law”, funny! His “father in law” welcomes him to the family in English and they hug. On a couch in the bridal suite, Philip in white suit sits across from Youshie, now in a green dress, on a couch. He says it was a beautiful wedding. They look on until a bell rings. A woman, Jun (Nanami Kawakami) in a white suit walks in. What happens, the realization, is devastating and bittersweet. What will we go through to get a happy life. I love the contrast of a funeral that has a joyful ending and a wedding that is bittersweet. This captures the tone of the movie. 

The next part after this introduction to Rental Family and Philip has a woman, Lola (Tamae Ando) snuggling with Philip in bed. Ando was in the drama, Perfect Days (2023). He says that it was fake, but “there were moments that it felt real.” She says they are the same, she helps people physically and he helps people emotionally. This girlfriend is there to bounce off ideas about Rental Family, but her part is small here. I can see that she would steer the story away from a stereotypical romantic connection with co-worker Aiko. 

Morning, Philip apologizes for the incident at the wedding. Tado asks Philip if he is dedicated to the job and he assures his boss that hiding in the bathroom will never happen again. Tado gives him the part of a father. Aiko says he is not ready and Tado sends her out to get some air. Kota joins her. Tado shows him the folder of a little girl needs a father to enter a private school. Her mother was rejected the first time she tried to enter her daughter. He explains that the mother wants her daughter to have a father to get confidence. Philip admits he grew up without a father. 

Shinji says the private school test is in three weeks and so Philip will have to get to know the girl. At night, Philip walks the street until he finds Aiko at a restaurant. When he takes a seat, she gets up to leave, he asks that she stay for five minutes. Aiko is still angry at his reluctance at the wedding and calls him a gaijin, foreigner, who will never understand Japanese culture. Ouch! Philip says he is gaijin, but that he is home in Japan and wants to understand. 

It isn’t the language that Philip needs to tackle, he speaks Japanese very well, but has to get past the cultural barrier. He asks Aiko why she works at Rental Family. She says the people look at them like they waited their whole lives. Tado says on the phone that he is coming home. He enters his house, his wife (Yuka Itaya) is cooking dinner, he asks about the game and his wife shakes her head in a negative. Tada sits next to his son (Hinata Kaizu) who says he lost the soccer game missing a pentalty kick. He gets encouragement from Tado. Beautiful shots of Tokyo at night. Philip is at his balcony, practicing meeting Mia, who will be his daughter, as Kevin. 

The next day, Philip walks into a building to meet with Hitomi Kawasaki (Shino Shinozaki), Mia’s mother. This is the first film for Shinozaki. She brings him a backpack that Mia always wanted and Hitomi also adds her daughter doesn’t know he is meeting her. Philip follows Hitomi who takes a seat next to Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), comoplte with pigtails, reading a book. This is also Gorman's first movie. She introduces Mia to Kevin, he gives a kinda smile. The look she gives him, the father she never knew, it just looks like years of being ignored. He gives her the backpack and she throws it at him! Philip tries to apologize and Mia runs away. 

He says her mom needed him to help her get into the private school. She pushes him back. Hitomi catches up to them and confirms that Kevin is needed. Mia holds up her pinkie and has him swear never to leave them. He agrees and Mia sings a Japanese song that if he breaks the swear he will swallow a thousand needles and die! She pulls away her mother to walk down steps. An older man tries to apologize to a room filled with cardboard executives. Tado shouts at him and the man bows saying he begs forgiveness from taking from the employee retirement fund! He takes a call from Philip who says, “She hates me!” Tada says that’s being a parent. He has a new client, the actor, Kikuo Hasegawa. 

Tado explains that Kikuo’s daughter thinks he is forgotten so she wants someone to interview him.This is fascinating, a successful actor having a struggling actor to remind him of his work. Philip reads a book by Kikuo while on the subway. He introduces himself as John Conway to the house keeper, Mrs. Ogawa (Masayo Umezawa). He is led into the house and told don’t bring up the Ronin of Hiroshima. Philip enters Kikuo’s room, jazz is playing as Kikuo (Akira Emoto) is asleep in a chair. Emoto is a veteran actor who was in The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi (2003). Philip quietly looks at his photos and trophies. 

He is startled when Kikuo asks him if he is a thief, Philip says he is a writer, Kikuo says, “All writers are thieves.” His desk has a katana and several kabuki masks. Philip introduces himself as a reporter from Vivid Frame magazine. Kikuo looks closely at his business card. He asks in English if he plays music, Philip says his father played bass, Kikuo bursts up and enacts the improvisation of jazz in a sort of dance! His English is struggling, but perfectly understandable. I just love the grumpy, seasoned actor. Masami (Sei Matobu), Kikuo’s daughter rushes up to her father. She brings his sandals, but he likes walking barefoot. Masami is the daughter who really doesn’t understand her father. Kikuo is the elderly man who still has so much to say, but no one to listen. 

The next day, Philip is early to meet with Mia and Hitomi, his earliness shows how much Mia and Kikuo mean to him. The young and the elderly, both needing connection, wuthg Philip who is disconnected. Mia passes him to go into school. Material are brought by the students to their table, the parents stand against the wall until the teacher calls them to help build an animal with their kids. Philip sits next to Mia, but she leaves him to go to a boy, Shion (Rikuto Ishizuka) who is alone, no family. Mia asks Philip if he can be his dad as she brings to her table. He says he wants to build a “Shark-topus.” Mia and Shion, she thanks him, and gives him a gift, a wire of jellyfish. 

Later, Philip hangs up the jellyfish artwork at his window and smiles. This movie is so kind and wonderful. Sundown on Tokyo Tower, Philip gets a call from Toda who tells him to go to Karoke Box. Aiko is in a silver dress singing next to a short woman in a similar dress. Philip answer the phone on the street saying he loves video games. He plays a wrestling game next to a guy in a dark, cluttered room. The karaoke tune plays over the various jobs. Philip renacts a line from Kikuo’s films, “I will follow you.” Kikuo stands up with a kendo stick because it is from his movie he particularly doesn’t like, hilarous! Even though the story may be in a different culture and language, I think it applies even more to any audience because it is about human experience.

Five+ Business Cards out of Five! 

#RentalFamily, #Hikari, #StephenBlahut, #BrendanFraser, #ShannonMahinaGorman, #AkiraEmoto,  #TakehiroHira, #MariYamamoto, #KimuraBun, #ShinoShinozaki, #MisatoMorita, #NanamiKawakami, #ShoheiUno, #YukaItaya, #HinataKaizu, #TamaeAndo, #SeiMatobu, #MasayoUmezawa