Reverend's Reviews: The Piano Teacher

The excellent German film Four Minutes (written and directed by Chris Kraus, following his acclaimed 2002 debut Shattered Glass) focuses on the intense relationship between an elderly piano teacher in a women's prison and a violent young prisoner who becomes her musical discovery.

Traude Kruger (played by Monica Bleibtreu, who has won several Best Actress awards internationally for her haunting performance) has taught at the prison for over sixty years, since her traumatic stint as a field nurse for the Nazis came to an end with World War II. Consumed by guilt over the execution of her then-lover, another woman, Traude has retreated to a life of loneliness in a repressive setting. She considers her work a form of penance, but has yet to feel redemption.

That begins to change, however, when Jenny von Loeben (an electrifying turn by Hannah Herzsprung in her film debut) is sentenced to the prison. Convicted of murdering her boyfriend, Jenny is initially vicious, remorseless and deemed incapable of rehabilitation. When Traude catches Jenny playing along to the organ during a church service and subsequently learns she was a child prodigy at the age of ten, Traude decides to take Jenny under her wing.

Molding Jenny into an adult performer proves to be no easy task, with Jenny's demons, prison bureaucrats and Traude's own prejudices providing considerable interference. But the women's efforts lead them to a once-in-a-lifetime, competitive shot at musical greatness and the climactic "four minutes" of the film's title.

Kraus was inspired to write the character of Traude based on his childhood memories of the woman who ran the boarding school he attended. In the production notes, he beautifully credits her with opening up to him "the world of art". Kraus writes, "I have always been fascinated by the wildness, the power and also that inexplicable element that is at the core of all artistic endeavors ... in Four Minutes, I wanted to show how such an intervention could happen." The result is a powerful testament to the human spirit, rising above darkness and soaring into greatness.

Four Minutes opens this Friday in Los Angeles and New York.

UPDATE: Four Minutes is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Awards Watch: TV Hall of Fame

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has named this year's inductees into their Hall of Fame. The honorees are:

• Bea Arthur, the Emmy Award-winning deadpan artist of Maude and Golden Girls legend.
• Larry Gelbart, the man behind M*A*S*H.
• Merv Griffin, the late host of his eponymous talk show and creator of the game show classics Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
• Daniel Burke and Tom Murphy, former CEOs of Capital Cities/ABC.
• Sherwood Schwartz, creator of such boomer favorites as The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island.

Reel Thoughts: Marshall Thrillin'

The Judd Apatow comedy express hit a pothole with Owen Wilson’s Drillbit Taylor, but happily, it’s right back on its filthy, hilarious way with Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Written by and starring Jason Segal, the movie tells the sad sack story of musician Peter Bretter, whose entire life revolves around his TV star girlfriend, Sarah Marshall (the gorgeous Kristen Bell). When Sarah dumps him for vacuous British rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand, in a scene-stealing performance), Peter is inconsolable. Adding to his misery is the fact that he’s still the "composer" for her hilariously lame crime drama. After hitting rock bottom in the dating world, Peter decides to go to Hawaii, only to find that Sarah and Aldous are staying at the same resort. Luckily, at the front desk he meets Rachel (Mila Kunis, miles ahead of her That 70’s Show persona), who is funny, beautiful, down-to-earth and best of all, able to comp him a mega-expensive suite to preserve his dignity.

What follows is the film that Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid should have been, with Peter subjected to all sorts of humiliations on his way to true love (and a Dracula musical starring puppets … don’t ask!), filled with an endless supply of hilarious supporting actors like Jack Brayer (30 Rock), Bill Hader (SNL and Superbad) and especially Paul Rudd. Perhaps they could have ended the parade before adding Jonah Hill, who is wearing out his welcome faster than Jack Black and Carrot Top combined, but that’s just quibbling.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is sharp, surprising, and not afraid to cross "man comedy" boundaries, including an entire break-up scene played with Segal in the nude. Suffice it to say, Segal doesn’t have to worry about shrinkage, even if he’s a shower and not a grower. A lesser man definitely would have shied away from doing the "full monty" (perhaps Segal was just doing a tribute to Julianne Moore’s "carpet matches the drapes" scene in Short Cuts). The film could use tighter editing, but when you’re laughing this hard, who cares? You won’t be forgetting Sarah Marshall anytime soon!

UPDATE: Forgetting Sarah Marshall is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Introducing: Our Own Men on Film

I am thrilled to announce the addition of two new contributors to these here parts, both of whom will be bringing you their views and reviews of all the latest and greatest on film and DVD right here at Movie Dearest:

• Reverend's Reviews by Chris Carpenter: Chris currently writes about film and spirituality for the Orange County and Long Beach Blade. Prior to that, he served as film and theatre critic for The Catholic Sun in Phoenix, Arizona for nine years. Chris is an ordained Catholic priest and author of the book Father’s Flicks.
• Reel Thoughts by Neil Cohen: Neil has been the film and stage critic for Phoenix's Echo Magazine for the past fourteen years. Previously, he and a certain someone (yours truly) contributed to the late lamented Phoenix Resource magazine. In his spare time, he is an extremely talented actor, playwright and Shiba Inu owner.

Both Chris and Neil have been dear friends of mine for many a moon, and I am very excited and proud to share their wit and wisdom with you all.

Countdown to AFI's 10 Top 10: Animation

"Animation isn't the illusion of life -- it is life!"
-- Chuck Jones

As Brad Bird (this year's Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature) has been known to say, animation is not a genre, but a medium. And he's right. Nevertheless, it is the first "genre" that I will be taking a look at as Movie Dearest begins a ten week countdown to AFI's 10 Top 10, this year's edition of the American Film Institute's popular (and often controversial) 100 Years ... 100 Movies series.

Looking over the past ten 100 Years lists, only nine fully animated films have made the various cuts, with the most appearances being in the Heroes & Villains and Songs installments. The very first American animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, appears the most times (four, including both the 1998 and 2007 greatest movies of all time lists), with Pinocchio and Beauty and the Beast listed twice. So it is a safe bet that these three, along with the landmark Fantasia and the groundbreaking Toy Story, will make this top ten. Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmatians and The Lion King have also appeared previously, and therefore could be considered strong contenders as well.

Taking a look at the annual AFI Awards, four more toons (all computer animated) could conceivably enter the mix: Shrek, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Happy Feet (shudder). Other notable films among the fifty nominees (see comments section below for the full list) include Aladdin, Cinderella, Dumbo, The Iron Giant, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas and even (double shudder) South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.

As you can see, Disney (along with Pixar) has a chance of sweeping this top ten; I really can only see Shrek and maybe Iron Giant (fingers crossed) breaking into this Mickey Mouse club.

We'll find out when AFI's 10 Top 10 airs on CBS on June 17.

P.S.A., I Love You

More and more, in-theater public service announcements -- like this recent one featuring Martin Scorsese -- are as entertaining as the movies they precede (or more so, if you're stuck watching 88 Minutes or Street Kings).

Of course, leave it to John Waters to be the pioneer in this field; he starred in his own "no smoking" ad years ago ... while smoking, naturally.

Film Art: Let Down Your Hair

Early concept art for Disney's upcoming Rapunzel ... yeah, they're finally getting around to that one.