By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Going into the Oscar Foreign Language race as an overwhelming favorite, “Toni Erdmann,” German filmmaker Maren Ade’s poignant comedic-drama, revolves around a practical-joking father who tries to reconnect with his uptight daughter by creating an outrageous alter-ego.
Within that context, Ade satirically tackles feminism, workplace sexism, international capitalism, and German arrogance within the European Union.
After his beloved dog dies, divorced, middle-aged Winifred Conradi (Peter Simonischek) feels totally lost. So he tries to reconnect with his only child — daughter Ines (Sandra Huller) — who is obsessive about her executive consulting work in Romania.
When Winifred, an eccentric prankster, turns up, unannounced, in Bucharest for the weekend, Ines is curt and obviously annoyed. “Are you really human?” he finally inquires.
Refusing to give up, free-spirited Winifred defiantly becomes an abrasive con-man, a “management coach” named Toni Erdmann, creating chaos in Ines’ high-pressure business life.
The most memorable moments occur when Ines performs Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All” in the middle of an Orthodox egg-painting party, followed by doffing her too-tight cocktail dress for an impromptu, existential, all-nude “team-building” birthday brunch.
Writer/director Maren Ade notes: “The directing part is more about making the story more rich and complicated in its subtext … I am interested in the drama of daily life, making the banal moments as dramatic as possible … I like to shoot lots of variations on that so that, when I am at the editing table, I can continue to ‘write’ in a way.”
So it’s not surprising that “Toni Erdmann” runs nearly three hours — and the slow-building, character-establishing pace tests the audience’s patience.
FYI: Three-time Oscar-winner Jack Nicholson Is determined to come out of semiretirement to star in an English-language remake — with Kristin Wiig as his long-suffering daughter.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Toni Erdmann” teases with an unpredictable, exuberant 8. It’s wildly rebellious and absurdly redemptive.
When our beloved basset-hound Pierre died, it was a Granger family tragedy. Like Nana in “Peter Pan,” Pierre had zealously guided and guarded our children for 14 years.
So you should know that there’s not just one but four dog deaths in “A Dog’s Purpose,” Lasse Hallstrom’s syrupy, sentimental adaptation of W. Bruce Cameron’s best-seller which attempts to lighten the emotional load by asserting that the canine’s spirit is reincarnated each time.
Opening with a shot of a litter of newborn puppies, it focuses on Bailey, a golden retriever adopted by eight-year-old Ethan (Bryce Gheisar) and his mother (Juliet Rylance), despite admonitions by Ethan’s abusive, alcoholic father (Luke Kirby).
Bailey helps teenage Ethan’s (K.J. Apa) romance with classmate Hannah (Britt Robertson). But, eventually, Bailey ages and must be put to sleep.
That launches Bailey’s reincarnations. He becomes Ellie, a German shepherd, working in Chicago Police’s K-9 division, and Tino, a chubby Corgi, adopted by a college student. Finally, as Buddy, an abandoned St. Bernard mix, he finds his way back to now middle-aged Ethan (Dennis Quaid).
The corny, clichéd story is told through Bailey’s perspective — voiced by Josh Gad, who enlivened the snowman Olaf in “Frozen.”
Complications arose when People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) urged a boycott, and a controversial video posted by TZM showed a dog being forced into churning water.
Subsequently, the animal-safety group American Humane, responsible for monitoring movie sets, refuted allegations of cruelty, claiming the dog was unharmed, stating: “This video was deliberately edited for the purpose of misleading the public and stoking outrage.”
But the luster of this film’s all-important opening weekend was irreparably tarnished.
On the Granger Gauge, “A Dog’s Purpose’ is an unfortunate 4, a public-relations disaster.
When we last saw Anastasia “Ana” Steele (Dakota Johnson), she’d walked out on domineering Seattle billionaire Christian Grey (scruffy Jamie Dornan) after he not only took her virginity but also turned her into his sex slave.
In “Fifty Shades Darker,” she has a job in a publishing house. But when Christian buys an entire art exhibit of her photos, Ana returns to his bedroom — with a “Chronicles of Riddick” poster on the wall — and his kinky Red Room (a.k.a. dungeon), which has been sensuously redecorated.
Their arrangement is renegotiated and he promises: no pain — unless you count nipple clamps.
Problem is: in addition to a creepy, spurned stalker (Bella Heathcote), there’s a pivotal woman lurking in Christian’s twisted psyche. It’s Elena (Kim Basinger), the cougar who taught Christian all about obedience and sado-masochistic sex.
And Ana’s smarmy editor Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson) loses his livelihood when Christian buys the publishing house where she worked, and he’s determined to wreak revenge.
Adapted by Niall Leonard from his wife E.L. James’ novel with its Harlequin dialogue and ineptly directed by James Foley, it’s now obvious that Christian is a psychologically disturbed sex addict. There’s no romance or erotic foreplay en route to the simulated, stylized sex scenes, just silly soft-core porn, which quickly becomes so ludicrous that it’s laughable.
FYI: Film buffs may recognize Ana’s line, “I don’t expect you to fetch me coffee unless you’re getting some for yourself.” In a sly tribute to Melanie Griffith — Dakota Johnson’s real-life mother — screenwriter Niall Leonard lifted it from Griffith’s sassy 1988 “Working Girl.”
Over the end credits, there’s a teaser for “Fifty Shades Freed,” scheduled for 2018.
On the Granger Gauge, “Fifty Shades Darker” is a trashy, tawdry 2, tarnishing the luster of Valentine’s Day.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
