Toni Erdmann

The film is (partly) about the fact that the globalisation of production does not go hand in hand with the globalisation of (real) culture, and therefore people lose a part of their "humanness", and get a strange substitute for it, the so-called "corporate culture". This problem affects all of us and most of us must have encountered similar situations or feelings as the persons in the film, that is why imho it resonates with so many people. It is especially meaningful coming from a nation, which in the past produced the greatest artists and thinkers (and not only the dark years), and which by all its peculiar characteristics and abilities would be meant to oppose the above trend. Sorry if my English is a bit strange.

This is a great movie - but most likely not for everyone. It's about academic upper middle-class people and their family relationships. Not everybody will find that interesting and there is no usual "romantic" plot development. It's a family portrait of a father and her daughter and as such has no (plot) conclusion. It is not the usual light comedy since it touches very serious questions and the prevailing mood is unhappiness (it is however _very_ funny at times ;-)).

That being said, this movie makes some very fine and subtle observations, presents them in a funny and entertaining form yet at the same time in a thought-provoking and philosophical way which will make you think about it for a long time. If you're from an academic (german) household you will find lots of similarities in your own family relations.

This movie is not fast-paced - in fact it often has long shots of lonely people and a lot is not said but has to be filled in by the viewer. So if you don't relate to the characters this movie will feel longish for sure. But if you find traces of your own life or that of your friends and relatives you'll be amazed by the subtlety and finesse in which this movie is directed. Although there are some bizarre events, everything which happens in this movie could happen in real life. There are no implausible scenes in this movie! This is an incredible statement given the crazy and bizarre things which happen in this movie. If you wanna know how that could be true, you might wanna watch it.

There's just something really magical about this film. I had heard so much praise bestowed upon it but had never really read anything about its premise or plot. I found it to be a very lovely, touching, and brilliant drama, although it also functions as a comedy in more ways than one. I think the real gift of the film is that it's able to be so touching and charming without actually trying to be overly cute and sentimental. The screenplay does so many things and takes so many turns for us to keep on going on this ride with the lead characters. Peter Simonischek and especially Sandra Huller are really fantastic and give us here one of the best pairings of 2016. This is a film to cherish and adore and I really hope it finds an audience. I'm sure it will and I can't wait to see it again.

But it is hard going. Ultimately I'm glad I stayed with it but it tests your patience to the limit at times. It's not a 1 rating like some reviewers are saying. But it's certainly not a 10 either. It's far too long to enable it to get anywhere that kind of rating. There seems to be so many meaningless scenes that could have been trimmed. There are certain moments that for me were laugh out loud. Ines played by Sandra Huller is fantastic. It's made me want to see more of her work. Talk of an Hollywood remake on here. I can only assume it will be a very very different film. There is no way ever a scene for scene remake would make it out of Hollywood. Give the original a go first, it's different!!

Initially I didn't know what to make of this movie and while billed as a comedy, there really isn't much that I found laugh out load funny about it until the last third of the movie. There are lots of awkward moments, that some could find funny, but others will not like them.

Most will find this very depressing and will turn it off after the first 60 minutes or so, I nearly did, but thankfully I kept watching and really enjoyed the last third of the movie.

As a father I can speak from experience when I say fathers will do anything to make their children happy and this shows through in this movie. I felt the father's whole misguided aim was to connect with his daughter and try to cheer her up. He can see she is very unhappy with her life. He fails most of the time, but continues to try throughout the movie with sometimes interesting and funny results.

Overall I found this quite a deep, thoughtful and very German movie. Watch lots of German movies and you will know what I mean.

I would be very hesitant to watch it twice.