Director: Tom Tykwer
"Everone has experienced that feeling of wishing he could turn the clock back 20 minutes and do something different. You can actually do that in film." Tom Tykwer
Set to a techno beat, imaginative editing rhythms and a playful assembly of fantastical plot twists, Run Lola Run is easily the most entertaining foreign film of the year and a hearty contender for one of the most entertaining films of the summer.
The plot’s basic thumb nail sketch is that Lola (Franka Potente)-- a red haired ruffian in a tight fitting midriff shirt-- has 20 minutes to get 100,000 marks (about $60,000) to her boyfriend Manie (Moritz Bleibtreu)--who screwed up a jewelry heist--before he gets the crap beat out of him by a big time gangster. In a quick 81 minutes the film (directed and written by a new talent, Tom Tykwer) lets her run and run and run again to get there in time.
The genius and enjoyment of the movie comes from Lola’s attempt to change her fate and fortune by taking the plot into her own hand and attempting to alter the outcome. Similar to Groundhog's Day the scenario is repeated again and again until Lola gets it right. One of the funniest--and at first puzzling--aspects of the movie is that as she runs through the streets, Lola runs into various people who’s fate is revealed to us after they make some kind of contact with her.
Many German films that make it here are dour, dark and depressing. This one by contrast is fresh, fast and fun which may be one reason the marketing of the film has skirted around the fact that it is a German film. But no matter, many of my colleagues and friends who saw it at Sundance claim it is the best thing they saw at Sundance this year and stick by it as the best film of the year. So what is it about the film that is so likable?
For starters it’s like a guilty pleasure for the art house crowd. At once a fast paced adventure, a cinematic arcade game and a deliberate twist on the formal aspects of movie reality. As most people know there have been a whole slate of films released this year that deal with virtual reality or alternative reality like The Matrix and eXistenZ but unlike those film's it’s not just light entertainment. It also has a philosophical edge by dealing with the basic tenants of Western philosophy (free will vs. predestination) and Eastern philosophy (a mobius strip of reincarnation until you get life right). You don’t have to know any of this to get a kick out of the film though.
The film is also a breath of fresh air for those disappointed in this year’s crop of marketable foreign films. The biggest question is will Run Lola Run have cross over potential outside of the art-house cinemas? Subtitled movies tend to be a turn off since many in the hinterlands don’t like to "read" a movie. There’s no question that a remake is in the works because any film this fun will certainly perk up the ears of Hollywood execs who believe anything that makes money can’t solely be the property of an unknown director from Germany.
- Matt Langdon
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