Product: Run, Lola, Run [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 5.0
Clever
Ever since MTV arrived on the scene back in the early 1980s, the attention span of Americans has dropped like a stone. The mindless superficiality of the programming hasn't helped boost IQ scores, either, but I won't get into that here. MTV's propensity for rapid-fire programming, replete with jump cuts and other fast editing techniques, eventually found a home in the moviemaking business. Unfortunately, the use of these methods became commonplace, often relegating if not downright replacing such tried and true formulas like plot, character development, and dialogue. Throw in a cut every few seconds, the reasoning must have went, and it gives the audience the impression that the action is more immediate and exciting. In more than a few cases these new techniques worked effectively, usually in films that still adhered to the old ideas of centering the film on the characters and the script. The first "Matrix" film comes to mind as an example of a movie that successfully fused the new editing with traditional film practices. Another film that works just as well is "Run Lola Run," a low budget German film written and directed by Tom Tykwer and starring the amazing actress Franka Potente.The plot of "Run Lola Run" is surprisingly simple. Lola (Potente) must find a way to come up with 100,000 deutsche marks in twenty minutes or her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) will have some serious explaining to do. He took a job for a big time crime boss involving the sale of a bunch of stolen cars but accidentally left the money on the train. A bum stumbled over the bag of cash and walked off with it before Manni could stop him. If Lola can't find a way to replace the bag of money, Manni tells her on the telephone, he will go across the street and rob a supermarket. Losing the money is that serious of a matter, apparently. Twenty minutes. With no time to lose, Lola dashes out of her apartment and runs across town to see her banker father, hoping against hope that he will somehow loan her the money. Yeah right. This guy has his own worries involving a female employee and he isn't about to drop everything to help his troublesome daughter. Lola dashes on, but through circumstances beyond her control arrives too late to stop Manni from committing a robbery. Will tragedy ensue because of her tardiness? Will the crime lord arrive on the scene and bust her boyfriend up for his lackluster handling of the assignment?"Run Lola Run" answers these questions in different ways because once Lola arrives at the supermarket, the movie starts over at the point when she hangs up the phone after finding out about Manni's quandary. That's right, we see the same event begin again with a slightly different variation and outcome. Once again, Lola dashes across town to visit her recalcitrant father in order to beg him for a loan. Once again, her father is dealing with his own problems concerning a female employee. But the encounter between father and daughter is slightly changed. So is the ultimate outcome of the eventual Lola/Manni reconciliation. Then the film STARTS AGAIN at the point where Lola hangs up the phone after learning about Manni's predicament. Again, she dashes across town to visit her father in order to seek his assistance with the couple's fiscal problems. And again, her father is dealing with his own issues. And again, many events change from the previous versions. Three separate times Lola dashes across town to save her boyfriend, with the ending of each variation differing significantly from the previous version of events."Run Lola Run" uses everything from animation to fast editing to a thundering soundtrack in order to create a sense of dire urgency, and it works spectacularly. You'll be sitting on the edge of your seat wondering how Lola will overcome the obstacles in her way, or even if she can overcome them. Tykwer gives the film additional depth by occasionally showing us, through a quick series of still photographs, what happens in the future to various people Lola runs into or passes by on her journey through town. A woman pushing a baby stroller and a lady walking down the hallway in the bank are just two examples of this interesting technique. Obviously, their fate changes in each version. The inclusion of intriguing concepts like this and others highlights the fickle connections between each living person on the planet. We've all thought along these lines before, usually when something disastrous happens and we say something like "If I had only turned left instead of right, I wouldn't have wrecked my car." "Run Lola Run" simply poses this question on a larger scale by showing how an event could change based on one or two minor variations in the actions of a character. If the movie's existential ponderings prove too much for you, you can sit back and enjoy Franka Potente's performance as the grungy, red headed Lola. She's a real hoot, with a voice capable of shattering glass when she screams.Extras on the disc include an informative, fun commentary with Tykwer and Potente, a music video with a brunette Potente singing a song, cast biographies, and trailers for "Run Lola Run," "The Dreamlife of Angels," and "Orlando." There are a few problems with the story, such as the nonsensical scene when the cops refuse to let Manni reenter the train to get his money. Why would they do that? Because the script needs that bag of money out of Manni's hands, that's why. Yet despite a few logical problems, "Run Lola Run" is a heck of a film everyone can enjoy.