<em>Toni Erdmann</em> Is a Comedy Experience Unlike Any Other
Maren Ade’s nearly three-hour German film might sound like a tough sell—but it’s a remarkably unique work of 21st-century humor.
is a tough film to explain. It aims to confound, to discombobulate, to make you laugh and wonder what exactly you think is so amusing—to re-evaluate things, in short. That’s the goal of both the film and the title character, a parody persona adopted by an eccentric divorced dad to both repel, and earn the love of, his disapproving daughter. Maren Ade’s comedy sounds actively repellent on paper—it’s from Germany(not a country that produces a lot of crossover
