Tags: blog, film, drama, recommended, 2026
Author: KickingK
Date: Sunday January 25th, 2026
Failing and succeeding at the same time.
The endlessly watchable Brendan Fraser stars as Philip, a struggling actor in Tokyo who falls into a job playing fictional parts in peoples real lives. And finds a lot more than he expects when asked to play the role of a father to a young girl applying for an elite school.
This is a film all about a friction. The friction between how we try to help the people around us and the lies we tell to them and ourselves in order to do so. Can a good deed ever be meaningful and lasting if it's built on a lie?
But the friction between dualities is everywhere you look in this film. It's both a Hollywood film set in Japan and a Japanese film starring an American. It's a crowd pleasing mainstream film with a clear theme and an art house film that leaves much to interpretation.
The problem is, that whilst the film clearly wants to explore that friction, it doesn't seem to know quite how to resolve it. It's an interesting area but the moment Philip lies to Mia, the young girl at the heart of the film, my brain noped out at the obvious ethical red line that's been stepped over.
Instead the film is at it's best in the final half hour. When everything starts going wrong and it shatters into a kaleidoscope of stories, each one following a different character, that's when the film suddenly bursts into life. Free from the awkward balancing act of the first part of the film it's able to let each story shine and finally get under the skin of the characters.
Maybe that's the message of the film, that you can only be yourself when your free from the lies. But it's not convincing and the resolution doesn't manage to square anything off.
A special mention has to go to the cinematography which is simple, basic even, but has an incredible eye for a good shot. It's interested in it's subjects and in turn you can't help but be drawn in. Keep an eye out for the range of fabulous sweaters worn throughout the film, the camera crew certainly did. And one scene involving the old man and a much older tree is just stunning, a genuine show stopper of a moment.
It's an odd film to recommend because I feel that, on it's own terms, it fails at what it's trying to do. But it succeeds at everything around it so spectacularly that everyone will get something meaningful from it.
