After Everyone Else, a rather gloomy probe into a dysfunctional relationship, German directress Maren Ade comes up with one of the most joyful films of this year’s festival season. Toni Erdmann is an insightful and multi-faceted portrayal of coming together between a father and a daughter, which wraps social criticism in the mantle of comedy with absurd undertones.In hopes of pursuing career in a supranational corporation, ambitious Ines gives up on her private life while drifting away from home and her loved ones. Coming to the rescue is her freewheeling father who relishes wearing disguises and false teeth. He invades her professional life as his unpredicta- ble alter ego that lent the film its name. The ensuing cascade of comic and awkward situations gradually erodes Ines’s self-confidence and undermines her conviction that career should be the meaning of anyone’s life. Representing Germany in vying for Best Foreign Language Film at upcoming Oscars, Toni Erdmann pithily caricatures the corporate world, its twisted rules and professional mumbo jumbo.