Product: Run, Lola, Run [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
A simple little film, but immensely enjoyable
Manni has lost 100 000 deutschemarks that he owes to a diamond-smuggling gangster he is meeting in 20 minutes. The titular Lola is Manni's girlfriend, whom he calls for help when he realises the money is missing. Lola sets off on a frantic run through the streets of Berlin to try and extract the money from her father, a banker, before Manni gets desperate and holds up a grocery store for the funds. However, such a bare-bones description does not do justice to this hyperkinetic, immensely enjoyable film.Since Lola only has only 20 minutes, and the film is 80 minutes, it's not giving away the plot to say that the race to get the funds happens 3 times - the first 2 end in disaster, so she has to try, try again. I'll leave for you to discover how it turns out the third time. Between these action sequences are surprisingly effective hallucinatory dialogues between Lola and Manni, and you develop a sense of their relationship. This kind of gimmick has been used before (the most recent that I've seen being Groundhog Day), but this is the most enjoyable rendition I've seen. It's unclear if this is the same Lola or an alternate universe. The movie wisely steers clear of such metaphysical questions, and you accept the story's reality (much as you accept the reality of "The Matrix") because it is self-consistent and the actors are so convincing.It's not perfect - there are too many gimmicks in the title sequence that you almost get annoyed enough to look negatively at the rest of the film. However, there's something beautiful about Lola's run, much like watching an Olympic long-distance race. With bright red hair flapping in the breeze, arms pumping, you can't help but admire the energy she has, even while faintly disbelieving that a smoker could maintain such a pace for 20 minutes. It's good that it is enjoyable, because a good 1/3 of the movie is simply watching her run!The DVD has the typical extras, including an English commentary (by the director and the actress that played Lola) for the Region 1 encoded discs. There are some neat gems in the commenary, explaining things that would be familiar to German moviegoers (the identities of certain actors, for instance) but not to American ones. These are minutae, however, that you don't need to enjoy the film. It's a credit to the filmaker that the film is so universal that it can be enjoyed by any audience.