Four Minutes (2006)

Average rating

(65%)

Starring:	Monica Bleibtreu \| Hannah Herzsprung \| Sven Pippig \| Richy Müller \| Jasmin Tabatabai \| Stefan Kurt \| Vadim Glowna \| Nadja Uhl \| Peter Davor \| Edita Malovcic \| Kathrin Kestler \| Christian Koerner \| Amber Bongard \| Dietrich Hollinderbäumer \| Dieter Moor
Director:	Chris Kraus
Studio:	LACE GROUP
Run time:	115 mins
Genres:	Drama \| World Cinema
Languages:	German
Released:	July 28, 2008
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Following on from the success of The Lives of Others and The Counterfeiters, the award winning Four Minutes sees wrongfully imprisoned piano prodigy Jenny, a molotov cocktail of suppressed emotions and uncontrollable rage, locked in a constant battle with those around her. Together with Traude, a professional musician who wants to expose Jenny's talents at a national competition, the pair develop a volatile teacher-pupil relationship. As the duo plan their intent to make it to the finals, it soon becomes apparent that, once there, Jenny will have only four minutes to prove herself, and no guarantee of freedom afterwards. Starring multiple award winner Hannah Herzsprung (The Reader, The Baader-Meinhof Complex), Four Minutes is a cinema tour de force that combines classical music, gritty prison drama and powerful performances to winning effect.

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Rated 4 stars
4 Minutes,4 stars****

Pronk from from Norwich, 4th January, 2009

An elderly spinster piano teacher in a womens prison,Mrs.Kruger, takes one of the inmates,Jenny,under her wing.The teacher loves music but can't connect with people.Jenny is young and absolutely gifted,but hates playing because it brings back a personal trauma from her past.The teacher tries to teach the student about respect,whilst the student reminds the teacher what it's like to be young and emotional. There are sub plots concerning both of their respective past personal lives but basically,it is just about two characters from vastly different generations and backgrounds who form an uneasy alliance in a harsh environment,and both of them benefit from the experience. Keep a box of tissues handy because the film is an emotional rollercoaster.I have no doubt that if they remade this in Hollywood with A-list stars, (which they probably eventually will),that it would clean up at the Oscars.But I guarantee that it would not be as good as this movie. Even in the first week of January,I am listing this as one of my Top 10 films of the year.Although I've only seen three films so far,I am confident that it will still be on my list come December. Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) is actually about 110 minutes,and pretty much every one of them is worthy.

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Rated 5 stars
Unmissable

A Customer from Darlington, 2nd January, 2009

What makes this Chris Kraus movie excellent is the two key performance Monica Bleibtreu plays Traude Krüger, an elderly piano teacher with a tragic past, whose star pupil is Jenny, played by Hannah Herzsprung, a young criminal whose anger is sometimes expressed by beating cell mates and prison guards o a sticky pulp and sometimes by thumping out magnificent jazz on the prison piano. The relationship doesn't develop in any sentimemtal Hollywoord sense: rather, a rsepect is grudgingly generated and by the end of the film, a kind of love. The performance of the very elderly Bleibtreu is exceptional, and it's wonderful to see a real old woman's face, with all its lines and shadows. It's powerful, tense and tender by turns, and beautifully played by everybody.

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