Thursday, November 1, 2007

Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) - Germany

Jenny is young. Her life is over. She killed someone. And she would do it again.
When an 80-year-old piano teacher discovers the girl’s secret, her brutality and her dreams, she decides to transform her pupil into the musical wunderkind she once was.

In feverish images, Director Chris Kraus’s second feature film Four Minutes tells the story of an impossible relationship.

For more than sixty years, aged pianist Traude Krüger has been teaching piano at the women’s prison. But she’s never met someone like Jenny, a killer beating everything around her to a pulp just to amuse herself. But Jenny used to be a great musical talent. And she still is under her impenetrable facade. She could manage to win a prestigious piano contest she is allowed to participate in despite her prison sentence. However, a contest is no challenge to someone who wants life to stand still.

Director Kraus is considered one of the most captivating young filmmakers in Germany. His debut Shattered Glass was the year 2002’s revelation, winning two Bavarian Film Awards, the German Screenplay Award, the German Award for Best Photography, the Golden Camera Award for lead actor Jürgen Vogel and the New Talent Award for best directorial effort.

Chris Kraus also wrote several screenplays for German celebrity directors like Detlev Buck (LiebesLuder – Bundle of Joy) and worked for Academy Award winners Pepe Danquart (C(r)ook) and Volker Schlöndorff (The Tin Drum II). His screenplays have garnered numerous awards.