Vier Minuten (Four Minutes)
2006
**½
Director: Chris Kraus
Cast: Monica Bleibtreu, Hannah Herzsprung, Sven Pippig, Richy Müller
This story of a troubled genius and her traumatised mentor offers a German variation on Good Will Hunting. Now an elderly piano teacher attempts to harness the talent of a young female convict. The protégée is brilliant but deeply distressed, which forces the teacher to revisit her own painful past in war-stricken Berlin. Chris Kraus spends too little time eploring the young lady's background, and too much on the old lady's overdramatic and predictable dark secret. This interesting but heavy-going drama leads to an uplifting finale, which seems at odds with the film that came before it. The two leading performances are good.
