Product: Run, Lola, Run [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
Tykwer's Brilliant Film Runs On High Octane
Turn on your TV and buckle up for an exhilarating 80-minute ride. From the get-go, this film literally runs and barely pauses to take a breath. Take your eyes off the screen and you may miss a fast-paced sequence of snapshots that tells you the future of certain minor characters. Run to the kitchen for a glass of water and you've missed an entire scene.But you won't want to take your eyes off this taut, fast-paced drama. Lola has just been told that her boyfriend Manni, an aspiring drug dealer, has lost 100,000 marks on the subway. She has 20 minutes to get together the money, or Manni will be killed by his new boss. How? Where? From whom? Down the steps, out the door, Lola runs, and runs. After 20 minutes, we've seen an entire film. But wait . . . you don't like the ending? Roll back the clock and we'll do it differently. Still don't like it? Give Tykwer another 20 minutes and he'll do it again.The point, of course, is that our lives are not entirely our own: they are shaped by minor incidents and by actions taken by other people. (Who hasn't said something along the lines of: If she hadn't delayed me at the bank, I would have gotten to the store before it closed. If I hadn't missed the turn-off, I wouldn't have been on that street, and that guy wouldn't have hit my car.) Suppose you could "rerun the tape" and do it differently? Tykwer does, and does it brilliantly. Will there be a robbery? Will Lola get the money from her father? Will she get it elsewhere? Will the police come in time? Who will live or die? Time will tell.One newspaper reviewer, after seeing this film, said that Tom Tykwer is the most promising German director since Rainer Fassbinder. While "The Princess and the Warrior" does not demonstrate quite the same greatness, in both films Tykwer tackles head on the issues of how marginally-related people, or being in the right place at the right time, can influence one's fate. But "Run, Lola, Run" is brilliant. The interspersing of cartoon animations of Lola with film; the snapshot sequences; a pumped up score and a never-dull plot make this one a winner.