Product: Run, Lola, Run [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
Brilliant! But Not For Everyone.
This movie is pure genius and as such will not appeal to everyone. The driving force of this movie is choices. Little choices and big choices can have untold effects on one's life and the lives of others. That is what this movie is about.To get these ideas across, we meet Lola and her current boyfriend. They are shady characters in that they are involved in illegal activities. Lola is the real thinker and the one who maintains control. Lola is late and the boyfriend gets in trouble. He gets scared and loses the money he is supposed to deliver to a drug lord. He has twenty minutes until delivery time. He turns to Lola. She has twenty minutes to come up with the money and get to him.Lola runs. She runs and runs. Her mind races for solutions even as her feet race across the city. She interacts with a number of characters. Some of these are affected by her and we get glimpses of their futures. There are two pauses in the film where Lola and her boyfriend are discussing important issues. In the first, Lola asks if he loves her. In the second he asks what she would do if he dies. While these at first seem strange ways of dividing the film's three separate sections, they give great insight into the characters.As the film progresses, we also get to see what can happen when some of the choices that were made are changed. What new paths can occur. Who get affected. All in all, it is simply brilliant.