Tag: Rental Family

March 9th, 2026

Dangerous Liaisons: Back in the summer I saw the beginning of the Stratford stage production of this story.   I didn’t finish it.  I found the lead characters most repulsive in their lies, deceit and manipulation of those around them.   I did, however, want to see how the movie from 1988 (which garnered a number of award nominations) addressed the story, and also how it ultimately ended.  

Starring Glenn Close in a simply excellent performance, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfieffer and Uma Thurman it is a good cast and beautifully shot by Stephen Frears. It is a master class in production design, costumes and make up for the times.  All the actors look so young and freshly faced.  The story is Close and rogue Malkovich who look to exact revenge on those around that they don’t like.  It was as simple as that, with a vengeful Close wanting to humiliate another woman.

The revenge takes many forms.  Malkovich was a former lover of Close, who wants to get back into her favour. But he is also a rogue who will do and say anything to try and win a woman’s heart just enough so that she will spend the night with him.   Close is definitely a challenge for him as she has been hardened by life, her station and a realisation that she has limited options.  In order to get her favour, Close is demanding many things from Malkovich that he must do to prove his worth.   One of them involves deflowering a virtuous young woman (Thurman), the daughter a woman Close does not like. The other is in making a married virtuous woman (played by Pfeiffer) willingly give up all her virtues, with written proof of it, from Malkovich. Malkovich regards the first task as simple. The second less so.  The main two characters play with love like a child with a gun.  Hearts are meant to be conquered by all means possible. I am not sure whether I anticipated the final act, but there is certainly a profound moment of choice where the two main characters square off and make a determination that will shape what is to come.   I don’t like these characters.   I have a better sense of them in this film than the play.  It is just beautiful to see in images.  The period is recreated excellently.   Close didn’t win the Oscar but it was certainly a deserving performance.  Jodie Foster was Best Actress for The Accused. Also in the field was Melanie Griffith (Working Girl), Meryl Streep (A Cry in the Dark), and Sigourney Weaver (Gorillas in the Mist) which is a very strong field. It did win three Oscars for Best Writing and Screenplay, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

Oscars 2026: A week from now the Oscars will have finished. I have had an opportunity in the past week to re-visit a number of the nominated films. This week I have watched Marty Supreme, Rental Family and Song Sung Blue. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Rental Family and Song Sung Blue once again with family who hadn’t seen them. They enjoyed both, especially Song Sung Blue. They are both Neil Diamond fans, but realized that this is not a story about Neil Diamond, but rather a story about a couple from Wisconsin who fall in love and choose to be a “Neil Diamond Experience”. Kate Hudson who is nominated for Best Actress did actually do her own signing, as did Hugh Jackman. This is in addition to carry an emotional range for her character that was unexpected for me. I didn’t know about this couple, and the things that have happened to them, it is not your typical story of rags to riches or unknown talent to the spotlight. It’s more about the challenges that life can throw at you, and how as a couple you can overcome them one at a time.

I also really enjoyed the much deeper story associated with Rental Family with Brendan Frasier. He has an everyman quality along with very expressive eyes. The acting is good and all the characters involved in the rental business learn something valuable. Even in a culture which comes across as tradtional and close-minded with honour taking top priority, they are still are deceiving someone on some level and they choose to do better.

Finally, I have seen in social media these proponents speaking about the greatness within Timothee Chalamet’s performance in Marty Supreme. The re-watch confirmed my first impression of this movie and the performance. I am not a huge fan. It was well acted, for each of the despicable people involved. I didn’t like Kevin O’Leary but maybe that was the point, nor Gwyneth Paltrow. Timothee interesting enough this past week has on the talk show circuit talked about how “no one cares about ballet and opera” and why he is glad that he is in movies. That is a brash, offensive statement like many of those uttered by Marty in the movie, including highly offensive statements about the Holocaust, Japan, and others in addition to the horrible way that he treats his mother (played by Fran Drescher). His actions towards his mother are never explained except for the fact that this street rat will do and say anything necessary to have him get what he wants because as he says himself “I have a purpose”. All of this means for me that this was not the Best Actor performance. I still maintain that this belongs to Ethan Hawke, but this likely will not be the case.

January 19th, 2026

Rental Family: Brendan Frasier a number of years ago was the hunky action star in such movies as The Mummy and Journey to the Centre of the Earth.   Then he disappeared for a while but returned with a vengeance (acting wise) with his award winning role in The Whale.   Within the role, he morphed into a John Candy-like big man with a big heart and empathetic nature.  He was likeable and believable.  Now his follow up picture puts him to use those skills acting in Japan.  

He plays an American actor living and working in Japan. He gets the odd role, but is approached one day by a guy who runs a rental service.   He employs actors, thus the need for Frasier, who assist people with emotional needs.

It is easy to dismiss this movie as a young girl in need of a Daddy figure, but that would just be scratching the surface and not embracing the depth within.   Frasier, with hesitancy, decides to help out and get a paying gig.  His first assignment seems simple, acting as an older groom for a young Japanese woman looking for her freedom.   Freedom from her country, her family, her marital obligations and the expectations culturally that are placed upon her.  The second and third gigs involve the aforementioned little girl, whose Mom wants her to get into a prestigious school, and she feels that having a “family” for the interviews will increase the likelihood for success.  For Frasier it involves having the young girl like him.   The story goes on.

For me this movie wins in the depth of the story.  It’s not just surrogacy.  Frasier connects with his clients in ways that the business owner doesn’t foresee.  What the owner sees as a paycheck, Frasier sees as manipulation.  He doesn’t like it.  Frasier has his own life story which blends well here.  The same is true for other employees and actors in the company.   All the stories feel genuine and real.  Frasier brings forth someone who acts in his own way, showing his humanity and doing what he feels is right for his clients.  Not just reading the lines from a script that the one paying directs.  It works.  It is emotional and clever.  Frasier once again is likeable and discloses his own layers over time.   Each of the characters seems to grow as the story unfolds logically.   But the emotional hook is what will stay with you as the credits roll.   John Candy once did a cheesey movie called Summer Rental.  This is better than that.  It has some similarities to Candy’s Uncle Buck which was a better film than Summer Rental.   I highly recommend this movie.  Seek it out and see for yourself what you get from it. 

No Other Choice:  this South Korean film was released back in August.  It speaks about the concept of having few or no alternatives.  Set in the present day, there is a husband and wife with two children.  They own a home and seem to be doing well.  Husband had worked for 25 years in the paper manufacturing business, building up a business from the ground up.  His company was just acquired by an American firm.  Unbeknownst to him, he unceremoniously gets downsized.  He had felt he had a perfect life.  This goes sideways quickly. 

We learn that his wife was a single mom before meeting him.  His youngest, a daughter, is about 8 years old and speaks very little. What she has is a talent in playing the cello.   The parents don’t hear her perform.  Older son is a typical teenager.   Moody and seeking independence.  Upon the termination husband cannot focus.  He thinks about other paper-related jobs.  After a couple of rejections he becomes more anxious.  So does his wife.  The rest of the story explores just how far they are willing to go.  This is a dark tale with some black humour thrown in.  For example, husband chooses to identify paper managers in common with him and then seeks to physically eliminate them.  Working on another level we see the same efforts in the businesses that the husband is applying to; they seek AI and make investments in robotics to eliminate the need for people (or even lights).  From the man who “had it all” he sacrifices a lot to regain some aspect of his earlier dream.  His relationship with his wife changes.  He witnesses how other marriages are impacted by job changes.  In this society, having a job defines you and who you are.  It is well told and acted.  There are some gruesome scenes with escalating intensity.  Part of me thought that if husband channeled his efforts in using his skills in a more productive way, he would have landed a job elsewhere.  But this I think is one of the points of the movie.  He doesn’t see beyond these immediate opportunities in a given industry.   He also doesn’t always help himself in making light in conversation.  He wouldn’t ever be hired as a contract killer to be sure.  It seems the Academy doesn’t watch many subtitled films but this was a decent one.