Rozinda There are two spoilers in this review. If you don't want hints, don't read this.I was hooked from start to finish, greatly moved. The young, badly abused and herself abusive girl with genius in her hands, and the old woman unwillingly discovering this aggressive young girl is a true prodigy and then doing everything she can to get that girl a chance. The conflict between the two over what kind of music is best. The hints that arise from this conflict about the past of the older woman. The irony of how that concert performance may finally be achieved. And somewhere in the movie, I won't say where, the most astonishing piece of music is played - so very exciting. I've twice seen particularly wonderful pieces of music performed within a movie, that is pieces I can remember that stand alone in their excellence whilst written as I understand it just for the movie. One is within Ladies of Lavender for the mysterious young violinist who seems to come from nowhere, the other for the young misfit in Vier Minuten.This movie is unrelentingly grim much of the time, but there is great beauty too and wonderful heartwarming moments. The moral seems to be that even people who appear to be vicious, abusive, murderous, completely lost causes, may contain the most amazing gifts if only someone else has the ability and then the willingness to draw them out. Would this girl ever escape from the emotional prison of her past and the physical prison of her present? I don't know but it would be nice to think she could.

dromasca It's only the second feature film of German director Chris Kraus, but it's already a strong, mature and dark drama that goes much beyond the apparent limits of its place and time.It's a jail story. Jenny, the main heroine of the story is jailed for murder and has little chances to see anything than prison for the rest of her life. She is however also a very gifted pianist, but her rebellious character drives her playing as it drives anything that she does in life.The penitentiary system, as enlightened as it may be in a country as Germany has the bureaucratic, oppressive, and shadowy treats of any system that punishes and deprives men of their liberty.It's a friendship story. Traude, the piano teacher who gives music lessons to detainees in order to ease their time and improve their lives and who befriends and supports her is herself a survivor of the Nazi persecutions, who is too familiar with suffering and with what life without freedom and hope means. Yet their friendship is not an easy one, none of them is a communicator, the level of mistrust and fears that the outer world imposed on both of them prevents them from relying on each other.It's a music story. Music is supposed to play the role of redeemer and possibly do the job of deus-ex-machina in changing the fate of the heroes of the story. Yet the director who is also the script writer avoided the easy path and never falls into conventional melodrama. More than that, music is one of the conflict reasons between Jenny and Traude and in the superb final scene of the film Hannah will win her internal freedom by rejecting the classical beauty and conventional balance of the symphonic music for the freedom of improvisation of the 'negro' music that expresses herself.... and in the final seconds of the four minutes they seem to meet - psychologically and in music.Acting which is traditionally a strong item in German movies is superb here. I have already seen Hannah Herzsprung in Der Baader Meinhof Komplex and The Reader - here she gets the full screen for a role of a broken young woman, which music cannot redeem completely. Monica Belibtrau is the piano teacher - she is supposed to be the redeemer but far from being linear and angelic she cannot free herself from the sufferings and guilt of the past, and from her own limitations.Vier Minuten may surprise with its pessimistic message - if a remake is ever made at Hollywood it better keep the skeptical look, as any other approach risks to turn it into a valueless melodrama.

pasky-imdb This movie just left me dizzy for two days after seeing it - I did not know how to really feel about it or its morale (if there was indeed any), I could not pinpoint what touched be so strongly, all I can say that this movie had really heavy impact on me. There is something incredibly charming about the main characters and their extreme circumstances is what gives the film the force to punch through all your shells and find the right strings of your soul to play on.Frankly, this movie actually has several major weak points - especially the script is full of so many gaping holes and the scenes fit together just barely for the plot to roughly work on the global scale. But this is the kind of movie where you just don't really care how believable the story is as long as you can follow it through: you just want to embrace yourself in the massively dark atmosphere built by excellent visuals and unforgettable music. I guess the only superlative left to describe the acting of the two main actresses is "awesome"...This movie makes for a very dark watch, with few quite violent scenes - but if you think you can handle it, be sure to go for it if you get your hands on it. Normally, with so problematic script I wouldn't give a movie more than 6/10, but here the rest works together so well that I can't make myself to give less than 9.

trgusa Vier Minuten left me admiring a young actress, respecting our cultural achievements, and pondering freedom and what part music and literature plays in dividing us from the animal kingdom. Yes, I think this movie is a statement of cultural development in relationship to physical, mental, and emotional stress, anger, hatred, cruelty, and violence.That is the Conflict theory of social progress.It reminds me of all the rebellious youth who had something shocking, abrasive, antisocial, and yet astonishing to say in a new format. Hail, hail, rock and roll, Hip-Hop, Punk, Goth, New Wave, Rap, Swing, Jive, Big Band, and even Classical. We have come a long way since the days of Turlough O'Carolan or Steven Foster.The plot is not as simple as you might think. Two women, both gifted, both abused and injured as youths, both driven. A father seeking redemption at the end of his life... a vast array of opponents meaning to deter hope and subdue expression. Movies have been built on oppression and hardship for a long time. It makes for a great story (like Purple Rain, for example).Beauty and the beast... continuance, salvation, rebirth, dignity... you could ponder the factors of this movie for some time. The music itself is meant only to be representative, not sterling, and you must remember the settings. I found the opening hard rock song of the piano being transported to the prison absolutely fantastic, and the finale innovative, and yet reminiscent of the "Acid Freak Concerts" of the late 60s, oddly enough. Listen to The Rolling Stones - "Their Satanic Majesties Request", 1967. Maybe they even used the same piano and the strings in the same way. However, I won't tell you how this one ends....Nevertheless, make no mistake: Hannah Herzsprung's performance throughout the movie is absolutely stunning, for lack of a better word. You will not forget it.I had a great deal of trouble tracking down a copy of this movie, since DVD copies are hard to find. In the end, I was really glad I took the time, and now, I am tracking down the CD soundtrack as well... yes, I think it is well worth seeing the movie, and owning the music too.If it only reminds us how to curtsey, and rebel at the same time....