This movie was suggested to me by my colleague. It is a German movie made by a former journalist and illustrator Chris Kraus.
The story is about a young girl Jenny von Loeben (Hannah Herzsprung) who is a genius piano player but convicted of killing his abusive father and hardened to emotional attachments. Her only contact to life is music. Traude Kruger (Monica Bleibtreu) takes up the job of teaching the unruly Jenny by strict methods. The story is about how both of them find a bond with each other through small trivia of conflicts, fights and lots of emotional scenes. There is a flashback of Truade's mysterious past that associates her emotional bond with Jenny. (I would not reveal much of that to keep the suspense) There is a usual prison villain who stops Jenny from achieving her dream, but Jenny is motivated by Traude to perform on stage for four minutes (the title of the movie) a brilliant piece of solo music with African folk-music touch.
Debutant Hannah has performed very well as psychotic young convict and Monica fits perfectly in the strict and severe teacher's role. There are too many dramatic scenes that I personally found a bit clichéd in the narration and emotions too.
The music is fantastic by Annette Focks. The last four minutes musical piece though brilliant is not extremely memorable as I had expected.
The Writer and Director Chris Kraus has done a commendable job in framing the script that has right notes of emotions, cinematography and music.
The movie has already won 15 awards and I think would win a few more.
A good movie.
(Stars 6.5 out of 10)
The story is about a young girl Jenny von Loeben (Hannah Herzsprung) who is a genius piano player but convicted of killing his abusive father and hardened to emotional attachments. Her only contact to life is music. Traude Kruger (Monica Bleibtreu) takes up the job of teaching the unruly Jenny by strict methods. The story is about how both of them find a bond with each other through small trivia of conflicts, fights and lots of emotional scenes. There is a flashback of Truade's mysterious past that associates her emotional bond with Jenny. (I would not reveal much of that to keep the suspense) There is a usual prison villain who stops Jenny from achieving her dream, but Jenny is motivated by Traude to perform on stage for four minutes (the title of the movie) a brilliant piece of solo music with African folk-music touch.
Debutant Hannah has performed very well as psychotic young convict and Monica fits perfectly in the strict and severe teacher's role. There are too many dramatic scenes that I personally found a bit clichéd in the narration and emotions too.
The music is fantastic by Annette Focks. The last four minutes musical piece though brilliant is not extremely memorable as I had expected.
The Writer and Director Chris Kraus has done a commendable job in framing the script that has right notes of emotions, cinematography and music.
The movie has already won 15 awards and I think would win a few more.
A good movie.
(Stars 6.5 out of 10)