Bandits

This 1997 film by Katja von Garnier tells the story of four women that while in prison form a rock band and eventually are able to escape from prison only to become a successful rock band (you guessed the band's name: bandits)that everyone loves… including me!

Well the story has to be taken as a fantasy as is very hard to believe, but the great performances plus the music makes this film one that you just cannot get your eyes from the screen or from the lead Jasmin Tabatabai that some of you may remember from her great performance in Unveiled.

Tabatabai plays Luna the rebel and lead singer and she sings for real! Attractive Nicolette Krebitz plays Angel the weakest link and guitar player, Jutta Hoffmann plays Marie the oldest and piano player, and Katja Riemann plays Emma the cerebral, cool and drums player. But they were serving time for: Luna for robbery; Angel for fraud and bigamy; Marie for poisoning her husband, and Emma for shooting a man that beat her. So this quartet is not sweet.

This is like a long music video that the director plus the editing made it not only interesting to watch (even if it has a thin story) but also made it truly hypnothic.

Not a masterpiece but who can resist a movie with four female leads? Not me, besides the film has 4 wins and 4 nominations in festivals and awards mainly in Germany, but also in USA and Japan.

The film is a little crazy, loud (one or two songs are soft) and with a lot of visual movement and effects, so it is not suited for all audiences but for those that really like movies than resemble music videos, not a great story, good performances and lots of music.

I just wish I could get hold of the movie soundtrack, as I liked how Tabatabai sings; that's why instead of the movie poster I posted the cd cover.

Enjoy!!