Lola Bhaago Bhaago

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 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.

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.

Lola rennt or Run Lola Run as we say it, is a German thriller written and directed by Tom Tykwer. This Film will contrast your emotions as it shows you how one little event in somebody's life can change there's, and other peoples lives forever. This rollercoaster ride of emotions will keep you gripped all the way through as it jumps from soft, dimly lit emotional scenes, to the completely contrasting scenes of running and constant action.

The music used in this film complements the scenes very well, when it's a slow scene our ears are graced with soft classical music like when Lola is falling to the ground in a slow motion shot. The complete opposite of this is used in the fast paced running scenes, as we get pounded by constant techno beats. I believe that the director has used techno to try and get us inside Lola's head as she is running and stressing about Manni and all the other events that happen throughout this amazing film.

Lola's Determination to save her boyfriend Manni is very well projected as she enters the bank that her father runs, and throughout the three different versions of the story uses different techniques to try and save him. This involvement with the characters and the three different storylines is very unique to this style of film. I think that the actors have delivered a very memorable and exciting performance which will leave viewers wanting to watch the film over and over again.

I think that this director has used this style of film very well, he is one of this first to successfully use this style and create a very interesting and exciting film. This film is almost the only one of its kind, other than the film 'Sliding Doors' but even in that the character is living two parallel lives but in this film it is replayed over again.

This film used interesting techniques that I had never seen in a film before. I think that the snapshots into the peoples lives gave you a good view of how one little event can change your life forever. By replaying through the same sort of events three times the director lets you really get a sense of feeling for the characters, especially Lola and as the film progresses you actually start to care about the characters and I think this was a really good quality in the film.

Overall I really enjoyed this film, and think that it is one of the best foreign films I have seen in a long time, and would give it a 9/10.

I have seen the movie several times, and each time I find new details and nuances that add to the story and the movies as an audiovisual delight. Friends of mine introduced me to the sound track at first on a high quality stereo system. It was amazing. I went home and ordered the CD. I am no great fan of techno music but that first track made me hold my breath because of its beauty. It felt like sitting in a cathedral and listening to a simple choral. I know, awkward comparison, but...

A few observations of my own.

Lola's first "run" reveals that her father believes she is not his biological daughter, calls her a "cuckoos egg". And it's quite possible, since we see her mom in all 3 "runs" talking on the phone with someone other than her husband. Lola is devastated. All three "runs" feature the bank security guard, trying to calm down Lola, giving her support. Every time they have intense eye contact, some silent understanding. He once even greets her with "Da bist du ja, Liebling" ("there you are, darling"). Quite strange for a bank employee to call his boss' daughter that, don't you think? We also see early on that he might have a heart condition.

In the last story segment, we see the guard again, in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Lola caught a ride, for a change, to her meeting destination with Manni. Miraculously, the guard's heart condition improves as his hand reaches toward Lola's. The medic, at first annoyed ("what the heck are you doing here?") is puzzled. Lola's answer to his question, as she reaches for the guard's hand is: "Ich gehoer zu ihm." Very important, I think. Call me silly, but somehow I have this feeling that he might be her illegitimate father. As bank employee he might well have had contact with Lola's mother, and even time to have an affair with her, considering the workaholic dad being gone so much.

"Ich gehoer zu ihm" is badly translated in the subtitles as "I'll stay with him" while the German would better translate into "I belong to him." And that is something Lola could well have realized after her dad abandoned her with the accusation of being a cuckoo's egg.

The guard is also in the beginning of the movie quoting famous soccer coach Sepp Herberger's "the ball is round". It's in the league with Yogi Berra's famous word creations. The ball is round meant for Herberger, that anything can happen as long as the game is on. Expect the unexpected. Since this is a movie that wants the viewer to "think" about possibilities, why not go all the way?