Best Foreign Language Film front runner, TONI ERDMANN, opens on Florida screens -- plus a word about this category's other nominees

So much has already been written -- much of it quite compelling -- about Maren Ade's latest, most ambitious and successful work, TONI ERDMANN, that TrustMovies will keep his coverage relatively succinct. For those of us who were blown quietly away by Ms Ade's first full-length film, The Forest for the Trees, and then found ourselves even more impressed by her second one, Everyone Else, her new achievement will not be seen as all that surprising.

We would have given this unique filmmaker placement in Variety's annual 10 Directors to Watch with the advent of her first film back in 2003, rather than only this year, with the success of her newest film. But then, that famous show-biz bible is not particularly known for its predictive abilities. (Better to wait until a director has garnered immense praise and won a bunch of awards before taking a chance on her.)

Ms Ade, shown at right with what will probably be the most talked about "costume" of the new millennium, has made a movie that many people are calling a comedy. Indeed, there are some wonderful, even amazing, laughs to be had during this long but increasingly meaningful and attention-grabbing film. Yet it takes perhaps a full hour before the comedy aspect of Toni Erdmann thoroughly sets in.

Even then, the immense drama that has built up between a father and daughter in their struggle to come to terms with each other, with their relationship and with their respective understandings of what it means to "do the right thing" -- this is what keeps the movie growing and churning with life and surprise.

The comedy, hilarious as it is, seems almost incidental. This has been true of all three of Ade's films. In The Forest for the Trees, we initially chuckle at the main character's attempt to "fit in" to the world; by the finale we're knocked for a loop by what all this leads to. Everyone Else has us alternately laughing and wincing at the hypocrisy of its characters, yet we never once lose contact with their humanity, strengths and weaknesses.

Toni Erdmann hands us the increasingly oft-told tale of a society in which appearance is all, soulless corporations rule, and the fight of one man against the many can make real change. And yet, as old-hat and obvious as this may sound, Ade's great skills at both writing and directing turns her tale into a rich and wondrous concoction, the likes of which you will not have previously seen.

She breathes new life into everything from the requisite sex scene (a humdinger, and for all sorts of reasons you won't expect: Petit-Fours, anyone?) to the lets-all-get-nude scene (an utter delight) to the moment in which our heroine is suddenly coaxed into singing a song and turns the scene into something special in, again, ways you just won't expect.

The two lead performances are award-worthy all on their own: Sandra Hüller (above) as that corporate-striving daughter and Peter Simonischek (below, left) as her crazy-like-a-fox dad, whose bizarre methods have their own wonderful logic and lead finally to making this film one of the most joyous and surprising adventures in growth and change that you will have seen for... well, a very long while.

After opening in December in New York and Los Angeles, Toni Erdmann -- from Sony Pictures Classics, in German with English subtitles and running two hours and 42 minutes -- will soon be seen around the entire country. Here in South Florida it opened last weekend at the Tower Theater, Miami, and will open this Friday, February 10, in Boca Raton at both the Living Room Theaters and the Regal Shadowood. To find the city and theater nearest you, simply click here and scroll down.

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Even though Toni Erdmann has become the darling of the critical set (myself included, unlike my mixed feelings about that other critical darling La La Land), I must admit to being a tad surprised that the film made it, not just to the Oscar shortlist, but to becoming an actual nominee for BFLF. I'd vote for it, for sure, but it seems to me to demand -- via its considerable length and unusual "indirection" (its genre-jumping tendencies) -- too much of the usual Academy voter, who might prefer a movie such as The Salesman, which I also loved and which is far easier to follow along with and understand.

That a film such as A Man Called Ove has been included among the nominees points to the Academy's ever-continuing love of the feel-good and obvious. If Ove should win, it will set back the BFLF category by a good decade or more. I have not yet seen either Land of Mine or Tanna, so cannot comment on their worthiness -- except to say that, of late, the Academy seems to include a war-themed film (last year's A War) and an "indigenous/primitive people" movie (last year's Embrace of the Serpent), so, yes, they're doing it again this time.

EVERYONE ELSE, Maren Ade's sophomore splendor, arrives via Cinema Guild

With only two full-length films to her credit, German writer/director Maren Ade (shown below) appears to have the ability to burn indelible things into our psyches.  Anyone who saw her first film The Forest for the Trees, could not help have been shaken to the core (its ending is one of the most quietly devastating and memorable that I have ever seen). Now she returns with a film certainly as good, perhaps even better -- and thankfully not dealing with a subject quite so dark as her earlier venture.  (Although that last statement could certainly be debated.)

EVERYONE ELSE tackles a relationship, and Ms Ade's film is up there with the best of the relation-
ship movies -- from Bergman's Scenes from a Marriage to Jeff Lipsky's Flannel Pajamas.  I'd say that the most important thing a filmmaker can bring to this kind of film is "choice."   Choice of actors, of course, but equally important choice of incident.  Creating a procession of scenes that will unveil, we hope with little undue exposition, who these people are and how they impact each other.   In the best of this kind of film --  which Everyone Else certainly is -- charac-
ter opens up so well that we find ourselves privy not only to the people on view but to their lives before the film started, even who their parents might be and how all this affects their relationship.

Ms Ade, because of her very smart selection process, as well as her writing and directorial skills, gives us this and more, in scenes that seem utterly real -- with behavior to match. As often happens in movies that offer full-bodied characters, our identification moves back and forth from one protagonist to the other.  Faults are revealed that can turn into strengths and then, given the situation, becomes negatives again.  Along the way, it becomes clear that these people are not a good match.  And yet...  So it is with many people we know in real life, including, most likely, ourselves and our spouses. But we make the best (and the worst, and much in between) of it all.  As do he two on view here: Chris (Lars Eidinger, above), who, among other characteristics, is a weak man, and Gitti (Birgit Minichmayr, below, left), who is both feisty and a "clinger."

Ade sets her film on the beautiful isle of Sardinia, during a vacation the couple is taking, and, as the old saw has it, if you can take a pleasant vacation together, your "couple status" is in pretty good shape.  If only.  Everything that happens here is so real, often seemingly insignificant but freighted with baggage -- the past, parents, tastes, jealousies and the like -- that the film accrues enormous impact as it moves along and yet never for a moment seems heavy-handed.  This is due to expert performances given by the two leads (supporting cast is fine, too) under Ade's guidance.

I don't want to say anymore here except see this film, and with your own significant other, if you've got the courage.  I suppose you might call Everyone Else the anti-date-movie of the year.  But not really. Facing stuff tends to be more salutary than ignoring it.

Everyone Else, a Cinema Guild presentation, opens Friday, April 9, in New York City at the IFC Center.  You can find the film's upcoming playdates in a few other cities here. Let's hope this excellent film, sure to appear on a bunch of "best lists" this winter, will be available to the public in more locations eventually.  Unrated; running time 120 minutes; in German with English subtitles.