Toni Erdmann Review | VIFF 2016

<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s fairly reductive to add one film with another and state that would theoretically be the summation of the film&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s definitely possible to do the same here&comma; but <i>Toni Erdmann<&sol;i> does almost everything differently than what a mainstream film would do &lpar;and has done&rpar; with the same subject matter&period; Director Maren Ade allows the film to breathe and have a reality within it that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t exist in most films&period; Co-existence is necessary to survive&comma; not just for the film to work&comma; but for the people inside of it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Peter Simonischek plays Winfried Conradi as a goofball that&comma; in maturity&comma; is several years younger than his daughter&comma; Ines&comma; played by Sandra Hüller&period; As these things go&comma; their relationship is strained to say the least&period; Ines has deep business ties to the company she works for in Bucharest which stretches her thin&period; Winfried attempts to keep a happy relationship with Ines without either of them being able to connect emotionally&period; Their lives are in a constant state of tension&period; Once Winfried&&num;8217&semi;s elderly dog passes away&comma; he takes his word on going to visit his daughter in Budapest&period; As his time with Ines becomes more strained&comma; he decides to take matters into his own hands with his buck-toothed&comma; shaggy haired alter ego&comma; Toni Erdmann&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;113887" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-113887" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-113887 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;03191251&sol;MV5BMjAzNDQwMjk1NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDgwOTM2ODE&percnt;40&period;&lowbar;V1&lowbar;&period;jpg" alt&equals;"&lpar;Toni Erdmann&comma; Mongrel Media&comma; Sony Pictures Classics&rpar;" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-113887" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Toni Erdmann<&sol;em>&comma; Mongrel Media&comma; Sony Pictures Classics&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>If that previous paragraph felt a little long&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s because this movie&&num;8217&semi;s long as well&period; At a whopping 162 minutes&comma; <em>Toni Erdmann <&sol;em>feels like it&&num;8217&semi;s treading water for a large portion of the film&period; Within this time&comma; Ade allows the film to grow organically into a sense of reality that helps these characters develop&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s rare to see a film like this pop up in any film scene&period; Any film remotely like this only ever succeeds on one plane of existence&period; With the help of the cast and a fantastic script from Ade herself&comma; <em>Toni Erdmann <&sol;em>strikes the line between ridiculous and heartfelt at all times&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A shout-out to Peter Simonischek and Sandra Hüller for the commitment to the script here&period; Without the acting&comma; this film would not work anywhere near as well as it does&period; I won&&num;8217&semi;t bring up any specifically great moments &lpar;which there are plenty of&rpar;&comma; but Ade balances them throughout with brilliant timing&period; Not having to adhere to the basic three act structure allows <em>Toni Erdmann <&sol;em>to explore some incredibly unconventional scenes that the movie has two separate endings that don&&num;8217&semi;t get in the way of each other&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Toni Erdmann <&sol;em>may seem like a home run&comma; but those smaller issues do build up&period; By the time the last fifteen minutes are there&comma; the movie really feels its length&period; I had to ask myself why these two characters were still mad at each other consistently&period; By the time the credits roll and The Cure starts playing&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s hard not to feel something&period; After sitting with the lovable rapport between Father and Daughter&comma; there&&num;8217&semi;s no resisting the movie&period; I&&num;8217&semi;d say I remember when we had movies like this&period; I can&&num;8217&semi;t say I recall them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;