This movie lets him ooze his shy charm over everything. I would almost think they wrote the role for him due to how well it matches his style. I wouldn't be surprised. But it works for him.
He's a commercial actor in Japan so expect some of the required "fish out of water" situations both physically and culturally. He had one very popular ad job and he's been doing bit parts ever since. We open with him going to yet another audition and being told they'll get back to him. His agent tells him about another job while he's waiting to hear back from this one.
Cue some shots of him not fitting in - standing out, quite literally, from the crowd, fitting into the public transportation seats (yeah, movie poster), etc. He does speak fluent Japanese and has the cultural basics down cold. We find out later he's been in Japan for eight years and decided to stay there. Reasons? Unknown.
The other job is what the movie is about and addresses social issues in Japan. One of the big ones is loneliness. Another is their strict social expectations. His first job is to be the American at a funeral. Americans are actually a status symbol in some Asian situations. Go figure.
He finds out the funeral was a set piece for the not-dead guy to experience the social ritual of the funeral he won't get because he's not of that status. Back at the office Phillip finds out more of what they do and why - they fill holes in people's lives. His first job is to be the groom at a wedding.
We find out that the bride has a same sex partner and wants to move to Canada with her so they can live in a way they can't in Japan. Her family knows but has to put up the pretense that she's marrying Phillip so not to be ostracized. It's an insight into the type of things he's going to experience.
We meet his coworkers who do things like pretend to be a mistress apologizing to the wife. It's actually called Apology Service. The man doesn't have to bring his real mistress to meet his wife but still gets the catharsis of the fake mistress apologizing for his mistakes. Cultural thing.
His main job is going to be pretending to be the father of a young girl so that she can get into an elite school. Single mothers have a stigma so she needs him to pretend to be the father who's around until the school interview. In preparation the mother wants to have him spend time with them so they seem like more of a family but also not tell her daughter that he really isn't her father, so that she doesn't spoil anything.
His other job has him pretending to interview an older Japanese actor because his daughter wants him to feel relevant. He's actually a fan of this guy so he's able to keep up the act and conversations. The man is getting forgetful, which means he can't get roles even though he's still famous.
OK. Enough plot detail. On to summaries.
The situation with the actor is that the guy wants to go back to his home province and have Phillip take him. His daughter won't do it. Phillip won't do it but does take him out for lunch. That's when he finds out that the guy wanders off. He does end up taking him to his home province so we get some lovely shots of unincorporated Japan. The actor has a heart attack and Phillip is arrested, accused of kidnapping him. More on this later.
The one with the kid is about the same. She warms up to him eventually and since she has no reason not to think of him as her father gets close. When the mother finds out she's upset and Phillip gets called on the carpet by his boss. Phillip gets upset because he's trying to do what he feels the company wants - for him to play the role. He gets schooled in how much to get involved.
The interview at the school goes well. The daughter is accepted. Phillip is told to take a hike. The daughter sees him on TV in one of his minor roles and finds out the truth. She eventually confronts him and they end up as friends. Heartwarming.
There's a small side story about him being hired by a guy to play video games with him. Over time the guy cleans himself up, the two of them clean his house up, and they end up doing things outside the house too. This is another loneliness thing in that this guy is buying a friend. It's both sad and relatable.
As the story progresses we find out the owner of the company has hired himself a wife and son to be waiting for him when he gets home every night. He's the same as any of their customers and the strain of the false situation finally has him realizing just how messed up the whole thing is.
Phillip gets accused of kidnapping the actor because they went off without permission from his daughter and it seems like they didn't tell her. It's a decent trip of trains, boats, then walking so it's long. The employees of the company decide to pretend to be lawyers to sort out things with the daughter, only to have a police officer show up. It's the company owner, pretending to be police to do the same thing.
The employees each break out of what they've been doing and see it for the damage it does. The company stays in business but without some of the less savory things they were doing. Specifically the owner tells a potential customer they no longer do Apology Service.
I honestly can't remember what happens to Phillip and the job. The movie ends on something that was part of the actor's storyline which makes sense given the contemplative nature of the movie.
It's a melancholy movie. The only person who is actually happy is the little girl for a while when she thinks her father is back in her life, and that gets ruined too. I guess the actor got to take his trip, so that was good for him. The whole movie is about a closed society and relationship dynamics. It doesn't translate well outside of the Japanese culture because they have such a fossilized social system that most other places don't. I don't go for that "human experience" thing because the experience is based on the humans, and both of those change for context.
It's a good enough watch. It will draw you in to the stories to a certain amount. There's just a lot of storylines to juggle so none of them really get explored. Even Phillip's story isn't really there.
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