Product: Run, Lola, Run [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 4.0
A film for those who can't sit still
When the film first started, I have to say I was ready to write the film off. I notice a lot of films who use wild filmmaking techniques to cover up the lack of substance in the film. With this it seemed as if anything and everything was used to tell the story for wild, fast-paced editing to animated sequences to split-screen. But whereas Requiem for a Dream also had a myriad of visual tricks to make up for the lack of substance, this film is a rollercoaster and knows it and uses it because it needs it. This was not meant to be some tearjerking drama; it's just good energetic stuff.Manni is in trouble because he lost 100,000 of a mobster's money and he isn't happy and he gives him 20 minutes to find it or else. His girlfriend Lola isn't going to just sit around and has to run all over the place in order to help find it before Manni robs a supermarket. But this 20 minutes is told a couple of times over as possible alternatives. Instead of not knowing what will happen but rather where the same story will branch off into different outcomes.Now I should mention the opening sequence which is as kinetic and obvious MTV influenced than anything. By this time I was thinking "I don't think I'm going to be into this very much". That is until the film jettisoned that idea and it becomes more energetic and it works better. One of my favorite ideas is at times Lola will bump into someone in a scenario and a series of photographs will show you where that person's life will lead with different outcomes. Example: one guy on a bike will crash and meet a woman and get married while in a different scenario he becomes homeless. It's basically kind of like a butterfly effect and it helps the idea of unpredictability and if different actions would bring different outcomes.Acting is spot-on and no better heroine than Franka Potente. Physically fit with big red hair, it's a good main character as anyone but I have one annoyance. At certain times (3, I think) Lola basically screams her head off and shatters glass and it just seemed unnecessary. Yeah we want to win at Roulette but screaming over recommended decibel levels. But other than that, she's as solid with everyone else pulling in respectable performances.Don't mind the 8-year-old-on-a-placebo-kick opening and you'll find a good example to kill an hour and 20 minutes.