Four Minutes - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Studio: Wolfe Video Release Date: 10/07/2008 Run time: 112 minutes

Amazon.com
Four Minutes recalls the lineage of films dedicated to marginalized characters who find solace in piano playing, such as Jane Campion’s The Piano, yet there is more to this drama than the story of a woman yearning for autonomy. Jenny (Hannah Herzsprung), a prisoner described as the type to "steal a smoke from a corpse" by another inmate, is wasting away in a German penitentiary until she is recruited by piano teacher, Traude Krueger (Monica Bleibtrau), to train for a contest coming up. Krueger, who sees Jenny’s fingers keying organ music on her church pew in Sunday mass, realizes Jenny’s innate talent and slowly heals her student through music as well as through conversations revealing their mutually difficult pasts. While Jenny’s violent outbursts continuously disrupt her piano privileges, Traude heroically defends Jenny in meetings with the hard-edged warden, Mr. Meyerbeer (Stefan Kurt). The crux of the story lies in the friendship forged between these women through Traude’s determination to heal her young prodigy. Through flashback, the viewer learns what male violence was inflicted upon each lady. Four Minutes, subtitled from German, is a bit humorless, and one doesn’t glimpse even a slight smile on any character’s face until fifty minutes of film have rolled. Jenny’s outbursts at the piano as well, such as when she plays handcuffed to defy Meyerbeer, are overwrought. Still, the lack of sentimentality inherent to each character lends a wry realism to the intelligent script, such as when Ms. Krueger tells Jenny to stop playing "negro music," exposing her antiquated, uptight musical taste. Four Minutes succeeds at illustrating a relationship in which two women cut from different cloth share commonalities that assume a female essence, though at their core they crave a universal desire for freedom. --Trinie Dalton

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

Stunning film making! August 12, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I saw this at a film festival and it is amazing! This film is about a young woman prisoner who has very real talent as a pianist. The elderly lady who teaches piano to inmates at the prison recognizes her talent and wants to enter her in a prestigious competition, but must break through the young woman's anger and defensiveness to get her even interested in going to the competition. Along the way, both individuals slowly reveal more of themselves and their lives to each other and we get more insight into what makes them tick. Added to these award-winning performances is the truly amazing ending of the film -- the last four minutes -- that leaves you absolutely blown away! What can I say... you must see this.

5 out of 5 stars

Super story September 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

What a masterly film! What a shock! The viewer is taken to trippes at heart and shaken in all directions. This film is exceptional. To let be yourself more engrossed by such a film would probably be too much for the nerves, both the intensity is violent, acute, sharp.

How to succeed in giving birth to a prison friendship between two women who have nothing in common except a true passion for the piano with a lot of patience, tenacity and tolerance is btilliantly shown in this film ? What a superb story!

The viewer is not indemn from such a projection. The final "four minutes" of the film is dazzling.

It is a great film issued by the German cinema that never ceases to surprise us with happiness ( "Good-bye Lenin!" Good Bye, Lenin!, "The Lives of Others" The Lives of Others).

5 out of 5 stars

A riveting story, superbly performed October 10, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

Traude Kruger taught piano at a women's prison for more than sixty years. But her inmate Jenny, a convicted killer with a history of beating people for simple amusement, is unique. Once a great musical talent she could be trained to participate in and wine a prestigious piano contest -- despite her prison sentence. Traude's problem is how to inspire Jenny to act out with her music rather than her fists. "Four Minutes" is a riveting story, superbly performed, and the conclusion is truly memorable. The German with subtitles DVD format is enhanced with such bonus features as the Theatrical Trailer, a Widescreen Presentation, Dolby 2.0 Audio sound. Total Running Time: 112 minutes; full color.

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