Four Minutes - Opens April 25 at Laemmle Music Hall

Eighty-year-old Frau Krüeger (Monica Bleibtreu) is your run-of-the-mill spinster. She lives alone in a small German town, never cracks a smile and follows a dry daily routine teaching piano lessons to incarcerated women at the local prison. Enter Jenny (Hannah Herzsprung), a young, new inmate who happens to be a piano prodigy as well as troubled murderer. Inspired by her promising talent, yet challenged by her antagonistic, petulant behavior, Krüeger attempts to prepare Jenny for a big recital. But secrets and crimes from their respective pasts, and at least one escape attempt, could ultimately prevent them from making it to the stage and a greater life.

While compact in scope and its setting, Four Minutes is nonetheless a well-made human drama boasting incredible, unorthodox piano playing sequences. Shine this ain’t. Writer/director Chris Kraus brings much nuance to the structure and character development, but let’s air one revelation right now: Krüeger is a lesbian, which is revealed through tortured, usually brief flashes back to the 1940s.

Aged about 20 years with help from seamless make-up to play the role, Bleibtreu is magnificent, subdued and intense as the Prussian Krüeger, whose entire present is dictated, and thus stagnated, by an incident from her past (fun fact: she’s the mother of hunky German actor, Moritz!). Extensively prepared with piano and boxing training, Herzsprung is a little ball of searing fury, liable to explode when threatened, masterful and blazing when at the piano. She tugs and pounds the strings within its guts, and Four Minutes’ grand finale is truly astounding with its driving music and frenzied choreography. A handful of well-acted supporting characters and subplots (a warden who threatens to shut down Krüeger’s piano program, a fellow prisoner who inspires more trouble for Jenny, a nice guard) fill out the story.

Kraus could have delved further into the lesbian element, and I wish he had, but Four Minutes entails a pretty captivating little film—and one that maintains interest for the entire 100-plus minute runtime. B+
—Lawrence Ferber

Kiss the Bride - Opens April 18 at the Regent Showcase Theater

It’s hard to not be weary of a lot of gay cinema, especially the recent spate of gay-themed romantic comedies along the lines of Eating Out 1 & 2 and Coffee Date. As well-meaning as these films may be, they are too often amateurishly tossed together by inexperienced directors who rely too heavily on showing their male actors in various states of undress to make up for their lack of originality or vision. Personally, I find this ploy rather insulting. As if nice pecs and a tight ass can replace good storytelling! Luckily, director C. Jay Cox’s gay romantic comedy Kiss the Bride—while initially staying true to many of the conventions of these self-conscious films—establishes itself in the end as a movie with a message as appealing as the shirtless male leads who populate it.

The story revolves around magazine editor Matt (Philipp Karner), who learns that his former high school flame, Ryan (James O’Shea), is engaged to be married—to a woman! Still nursing a broken heart over Ryan, Matt throws everything aside and takes a spontaneous trip back home—presumably to stop the pending nuptials. But when he meets Matt’s fiancée, the lovable Alex (Tori Spelling), things get complicated.

Call it “My Best Ex-Boyfriend’s Wedding.” Indeed, there are many similarities to Julia Roberts’ 1990 rom-com (so many that direct references to the film are included in the script), but the movie is very hip to the fact that it’s stealing from the best. At least it’s got a few winning performances to speak of. Karner and O’Shea, in particular, are mostly convincing as former lovers reunited, while Spelling acquits herself rather nicely as the endearingly naïve Alex. The script and direction is occasionally unsteady (especially in the insufferably lighthearted first act), but once the film settles into an honest exploration of love in the time of ambiguous sexuality, things really fall into place. In the end, Kiss the Bride isn’t as bad as one might think—which bodes well for the future of gay cinema. Oh, happy days! B
—Ken Knox