Monday, May 14, 2007

Lola Wants You

Tykwer and Hoffman from Perfume
So while I was sleeping the German Film Academy presented the Lolas for best German films of the year. Back on March 19 I gave the rundown of nominees for the top awards and it appears there was a bit of an upset for Best Picture. The German Film Academy hopes to build the awards ceremony audience up to rival the Academy Awards or the UK's BAFTA.

The big-budget film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Dustin Hoffman, was thumped by upstart Four Minutes (Vier Minuten), directed by Chris Kraus. While Perfume and Four Minutes were both nominated for eight Lolas, Perfume appeared poised to sweep pulling down six awards. In the end, Four Minutes took the top prize and Best Actress for Monica Bleibtreu.

Four Minutes is the story of an aging piano teacher helping a musical prodigy that is serving time for murder in a women's prison. Perfume is the story of a scent prodigy trying to capture the most exquisite aroma in a bottle, when things go wrong – so to speak.

Winning a Silver Lola was the Bavarian comedy Grave Decisions, directed by Ray Hayter. Grave Decisions uses a Bavarian dialect so heavy that even most Germans can’t understand the dialogue. (Check my March 9 Filmies blog entry on Grave Decisions.)

Hannah Herzsprung co-stars in Four Minutes (Vier Minuten).

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