Run Lola Run

This 1998 German film draws you in from the very first frame and doesn’t drop you until the last frame.  Through clever use of cartoon imagery, split screen shots and a pumping sound track, we are taken with Lola on her journey three times, and as the adrenaline increases on screen, ours pumps too.

Run Lola Run is essentially a study of how one thing, no matter how innocuous, can affect our lives.  The heroine of this sweat inducing-motion picture is Lola (Franka Potente), who has to find 100,000 Marks in 20 minutes to save the life of her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu).  The film tells the same story three times.  Each time a slightly different decision or incident occurs during Lola’s race across the city, which affects the outcome and the other characters in the film.  Very little time is spent building the characters; instead the filmmakers opted to start at a break-neck speed and maintain it throughout the film.

I will not waste anytime talking about the dialogue (German, of course; try to watch the subtitled version rather than the dubbed one, as there are subtle differences).  The dialogue is wonderfully sparse, trimmed away in order to see Franka and her fabulous crimson hair running around.  The pace that this film maintains for its entire running time is a credit to all concerned; the actors, the director, the sound designer and editors all deserve equal credit.  The pace isn’t just maintained on screen, but through assaulting our ears with fast paced techno-music with heart stopping base beat throughout, the filmmakers are able to give the film a happening-right-now immediacy that is rarely successfully accomplished.

This film is a pleasure to watch and whilst it will not appeal to those movie-goers who love the formulaic ‘Hollywood’ blockbuster approach to film making, this film is a novelty, a truly imaginative and almost daring film in its audacity.  We, the viewers, are not asked to feel sorry for Manni and Lola’s predicament; some would say that they have brought it on themselves.  There is no attempt to justify their actions, or to build their characters.  We are just forced to watch 20 minutes in the two protagonists’ lives three times, and be entertained for the 80 minutes running time.

If you like your film making to be original and daring, then this is for you, and you will not be disappointed.  You may be a little short of breath at the end, but you will have been entertained.  I have no doubt that much of the mainstream media missed this on its release.  This always seems to happen to small budget, original films; they are sorely overlooked.  Avoiding this film should be made a criminal offence, in my opinion.

The pop-bubblegum movie fans who flock by the thousands to hand over their (or their parents’) hard earned money to see films of the ilk of Pearl Harbor will hate this film because there is an obvious lack of explosions and love interests, nor does it include a storyline that isn’t reinforced every 30 seconds lest the audience should forget it.  But they are the losers.  In short, this film is about as faultless as any film of the nineties; even the subtitling doesn’t matter because this film is not verbose.

Watch it and increase your heart rate!