Review of Toni Erdmann (2016) by Glenn G — 20 Jan 2017

PRANKS FOR THE MEMORIES - My Review of TONI ERDMANN (3 Stars).

Dogme 95 represented a cinematic style established by a cooperative of Danish filmmakers. Eschewing lighting, special effects and other symptoms of over-production, movies such as THE CELEBRATION concentrated on its actors and the dynamics between them. Typically such films would peel back the onion layers of relationships and expose something dark yet true. While sometimes producing great art, Dogme 95 became its own cliche when imitators basically interpreted their manifesto to simply include a lot of hand-held camera work and aimless storytelling. You know, the typical "Sundance indie". Luckily, Sundance and a whole crop of mega-talented filmmakers understood this, and we now see a wonderfully diverse cinematic world where even tripods and lights are used again! Yay filmmaking!

Sure, low budgets often dictate how a film gets made, so I don't necessarily look askance at a Dogme-style film when I see one now, especially if the script blazes with ideas and surprises. Much of German born Maren Ade's TONI ERDMANN, a frequently hilarious, truthful, cringe-worthy exploration of a tense father-daughter relationship, transcends its Dogme approach, but at nearly 3 hours in length, good God, someone needs to tell this director when to stop!

Meet Winfried (aka Toni Erdmann and played by Peter Simonischek), a music teacher who loses his students, his dog, and suddenly finds himself with a lot of time on his hands. Therefore, what a good decision he makes to spend more time with his daughter Ines (Sandra Hüller), an uptight businesswoman on assignment in Bucharest. We learn in the first few minutes that Winfried loves pulling pranks and donning disguises, often involving a terrible wig and false teeth. The opening sequence shows him keeping a delivery man waiting with a package, convincing him it may contain a mail bomb.

Surprising his daughter in Romania, Winfried initiates a series of goofs, some silly, others a little more cutting, all in an attempt to lighten her up a little. You see, Ade may have a feminist agenda, but the cliche of women being "bitchy in the boardroom" reads loud and clear in the film. If only they would learn how to take a joke, right? Ugh.

The basic premise of the movie started to wear me down, yet some wonderful, honest moments rang true. Simonischek and Hüller make a terrific team. It's the classic Buddy Movie setup but without the car chases, explosions, and homophobia. With TONI ERDMANN, we get one moment after the other in which we're embarrassed by the things our parents do. A scene in which Winfried, posing as his alter-ego Erdmann, tells Ines' boss that he pays someone to be his daughter since he sees so little of his own feels simultaneously funny and heartbreaking.

We wait and we wait and we wait for the cracks to show in Ines'. Did I mention we wait? Yeah, this film just goes on forever, and many won't have the patience for the pretty amazing last act. It includes a truly fun nude scene, a memorable musical number, and let's just say a VERY hairy situation. These moments truly excel and show Ade's vivid imagination. Hüller in particular blazes through the last 30 minutes of the film, creating totally believable transitions while honoring the framework of her character. Too often in comedic films, the protagonist bursts out of their shell and you can barely recognize them anymore. Hüller remains Ines but tweaks her here and there so credibly. It's an astonishingly controlled performance. Simonischek, likewise, finds the heart and soul in a character so truly annoying on the surface.

The interminable length of this film, however, turned me off to so much of what makes it potentially great. The endless pauses and repetitive nature of the first couple of hours would have benefited from a LOT of trimming. Ade forces us to live in Ines' discomfort, which, on paper, makes a lot of sense. Perhaps Ade deemed a shorter version would have felt too sitcom-like. She's clearly aiming for something deeper, which I admire...but if personalized fast forward buttons existed in movie theaters, I would have been riding that button so hard!