Product: Run, Lola, Run [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 3.0
Teutonic nihilism at its finest
Not since Jesse Owens kicked some Nazi ass in the 36' Olympics has so much been made about someone sprinting around Berlin. This movie is quite riveting, so much so, that it tempts the viewer to lose sight completely of the fact that nobody in this movie is even close to being a sympathetic figure. Lola seems to be running from: (choose up to three:) 1. the death that is contempary bourgeious existence 2. hypocrisy of modern family life 3. german collective past 4. soulless capitalism 5. the inescapable corporeality of bodily existence 6. awful techno soundtrack that follows her everywhere. 7. her father (perhaps the most reprehensible figure in the movie) 8. the cops. 9. Time and space (to keep the themes nice and specific.) I couldn't figure it out either and I guess that is because the movie doesn't really give anything by way of thematic development. We simply watch a girl run around wide Prussian streets (great for military parades) and wonder whether or not we should root for her to save her aspiring criminal boyfriend - presumably so that he can live to deal drugs to kids another day. The movie flips around and different things happen to the same people (movies are funny that way) and one leaves with no sense of anything but a desire not to dye my hair, go running that day or mess with Russian mobsters. Having said that, I would say that the movie is very fast paced and exciting. I just wish that the director would, well, direct his talents toward something more meaningful.