Toni Erdmann

I do not know what to say about Toni Erdmann. This movie both confused and enchanted me.

It was nearly three hours long and I didn't know that when I went in. I watched the film and felt completely engaged the whole time and when it was over I was so confused! I had lost an hour of my life! How did it get to be so late? Was I abducted by aliens? Or was I simply watching a foreign film? Now that I think about it...is that really the same thing?

Toni Erdmann is about a jokester of a dad with a very serious daughter and his attempts to get closer to her and understand her better. The story wanders, the objectives aren't clear. I kept trying to figure out what the movie was going to be about because I am an American, trained by Hollywood and I can't let go of all of my rigid expectations! 

But that's not true! I did let go. Despite my confusion, the movie held my interest as it meandered from one direction to another. So many awkward situations arise between dad and daughter and that carries a kind of ever-present tension that kept me from getting bored. I was rooting for him and rooting for her and I had no idea what success for either one of them would look like!

There are touching moments, sad moments, hilarious moments, weird moments. It's all in there! And then without warning, there was a moment at the end that broke my heart. I felt it breaking and I felt myself soaring through an out of body experience and I felt at one with this crazy jumbled up ride of a movie.

Ah, that's probably too much. I don't mean to oversell it. And I swear I wasn't high, despite the legality of such substances now.  I'm just trying to define my relationship with this movie. Maybe it was the three hour time commitment but I did feel like I had a relationship with this film...something that seems far more common with foreign films than American ones. It was utterly unexpected and truly unique. I am glad we shared that Sunday afternoon together...I'll always remember it fondly...