Cours, Lola, cours

Tom Tykwer has truly proven himself as the filmmaker to watch. The little known German director has produced a modern-day masterpiece; a dazzling technical film about how life consists of the decisions we make.

Lola (Franka Potente) receives a phone call from her boyfriend, Manni. (Moritz Bleibtreii) Manni accidentally leaves a bag carrying $100 000 on a train, which is picked up by a homeless man. This leaves Manni in quite a predicament. He is supposed to deliver the money to a gangster by noon, if he fails, then he is likely to be killed. Lola has twenty- minutes to save his boyfriend. Twenty short minutes to somehow find the money and get it to him.

Run Lola Run is a film you expect to see at a Independent film festival, or in a Professor's office at a film school. In no way do I mean that in a negative way, I mean not to intend that the film is of a lower standard with lower production values, rather that the film is a beautifully mastered technical film that uses every filmmaking technique in the book. It is refreshing to see a film like this in the midst of the commercialised, dry-cut, 'traditional' filmmaking that we see on the silver screen so regularly.

As stated before, the film attempts to use a wide range of filmmaking techniques to help get the director's meaning and vision across to the audience. Some of these include speed-up, instant replay, black and white, and even animation in some parts.

It may sound strange, but the film is twenty-minutes long. Well, not really, but it is in context. Tykwer focuses on the twenty-minutes that Lola has, and shows that twenty-minutes three times over, each time with small differences will affect the outcome of the characters. The danger with this kind of technique is that it can threaten to be repetitive. However, the new additions added by Tykwer are very clever and link in perfectly, which will have you gasping for more.

Tykwer wrote and directed this film, and while doing this, he never lost sight of his meaning. His meaning that he is trying to express is that life consists of the decisions we make. While watching the film, this becomes increasingly evident. He also likes to emphasise that time is against Lola during the film. This can be seen when a young woman walks past and Lola asks her for the time, the next shot shows a much older woman answering her question, hence showing the importance of time.

Franka Potente gave a good performance as Lola. Yet, it is hard to say that she was fantastic, because it is a role that requires a great deal of physical acting and we didn't get to know a lot about Lola, hence the film wasn't overly-focusing on her issues, rather her boyfriend's problem. The real standout performance from my point of view came from Moritz Bleibtreii. He actually took on a quite challenging role and pulls it off successfully. He achieves his objective of getting the audience to feel sympathy for the position that he is in.

Run Lola Run is without a doubt, one of the best technical films ever made. A profound, exciting, new age masterpiece that has well and truly left its mark on the film industry.

Five out of Five.

"Run Lola Run" is one of the most fun, involving, stylish movies I've seen in a long time. The suspense is high from the get-go, with Lola's boyfriend Manni phoning her to say that if he doesn't get 100,000 deutsche marks within 20 minutes, a gangster will kill him. Immediately, Lola sets off running through Berlin in a frantic attempt to locate the money. The fun part is that we see Lola's journey three times with three very different outcomes, determined by little things that happen to Lola as she runs.

Lola (the engaging Franka Potente) manages to be both an iconic, super-cool heroine, and a believable young woman who just wants to get her boyfriend out of trouble. IMDb ratings show that this is the rare action movie that appeals to girls more than to guys, probably because Lola is such a strong character.

This is exhilarating film-making, with a propulsive soundtrack, a fast pace, and many flashy effects like animated and black-and-white sequences--in addition to the most stunning use of split-screen that I've ever seen. Incredibly for such a young director, these techniques are employed with great assurance. I also like how although the film is "hip" and sometimes amused by the crazy things that happen to people, it's never cynical. Instead, there's a sweet optimism to it, a faith in karma and love.

Occasionally, "Run Lola Run" is a bit too clever for its own good. The rapid-fire montages that show the fates of minor characters are superficially amusing, but unnecessarily hammer home the theme that "little things can have a huge effect on a person's life." However, the movie's philosophies are still ambiguous enough that there's a lot to think about when it's over. Furthermore, "Run Lola Run" is an extraordinarily good time; it's impossible to take your eyes off the screen whenever Lola's on it.

Run Lola Run is a riveting, heart (and pavement) pounding epic choose-your-own-adventure. Written and directed by Tom Tykwer, Run Lola Run is the story of a girl, Lola, who receives a panicked phone call from her longtime boyfriend, Manni. Manni owes a mobster 100,000 marks and doesn't know what to do. Lola, desperate to save his life, reassures him that she can get the money to him by noon, when he must meet the mobster (that means, she has twenty minutes), or else Manni would rob a grocery store. From that moment on, the movie takes us through three stories of Lola's trials trying to get Manni's money in 20 minutes - and with every person she comes into contact with, their lives take on completely different forms, as shown by 30-second photo flash montages. On an originality scale, this film ranks a ten. Franka Potente, the actress that portrays our flame-haired heroine, does an exceptional job. From the first frame the film plunges into action and adventure with breakneck speed, and we find ourselves cheering for Lola right to the end.

People seem to get to easily impressed by films these days. No, I'm not a grouch, and I did like this film. Quite a bit actually, even though I'd basically seen the same film a few years ago: D.A.N.G.A.N. Runner, an HK film, predates Lola and is quite similar for the running throughout the film to live/save life etcetera aspect. Not to mention films like Flirt which deal with the same roles in different situations or Sliding Doors with the 'what if...?' aspect.

So this film, though interesting, was hardly new. It takes ideas already seen and twists them just a little bit. But it lacks the characterization and plot that made those other films so interesting. We learn very little about Lola, just a few snippets from her encounters with her 'father' and the bed sequences with her boyfriend, who we learn even less about. And the plot is all about cinematography and film style, there's little essence to it. In other words, it's eye candy and little more.

What that means is that we see great colour with little flavour. Experimentation with technique and style, sometimes it works other times it gets quite sloppy, and not enough attention to fine detail or story. (the cartoon part is cool though). And I would have liked a less Hollywood ending from a film that tries so hard to be contemporary and non-Hollywood.

Overall: Fun to watch. Some of the experimentation really worked. It's hardly a classic though, not even a terribly solid film. But it's interesting, and doesn't drag *too* much. I almost gave it a 6 but relented and instead give it a 7/10.

Run Lola Run is a very original film in its premise, it guarantees entertainment to the spectator from beginning to end, the film requires the spectator's full attention and because it is short, I suggest not to pause or divert focus, because I believe this film is made so you get lost between Lola's runs, in the end you end up staying what now? What comes next, and then, unfortunately, the movie ends.

One thing I found funny is that Lola never gets tired and doesn't even want to pant, maybe the production should have paid a little attention to this detail since it's the title of the film.

I believe it served as the inspiration for The Butterfly Effect (another classic), the plot is not so deep and fails to explain several things, a problem that would not exist if the film were bigger or had a sequel.

Despite this, the soundtrack, setting, photography, editing, guarantee the adrenaline and action of the film.