Product Details

• Actors: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri, Armin Rohde
• Directors: Tom Tykwer
• Writers: Tom Tykwer
• Producers: Andreas Schreitmüller, Gebhard Henke, Maria Köpf, Stefan Arndt
• Format: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: German (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, French
• Dubbed: English
• Subtitles for the Hearing Impaired: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: December 21, 1999
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (560 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000021Y77
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,093 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
  • #45 in Movies & TV > DVD > Foreign Films
• Learn more about "Run Lola Run" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's difficult to create a film that's fast paced, exciting, and aesthetically appealing without diluting its dialogue. Run Lola Run, directed and written by Tom Tykwer, is an enchanting balance of pace and narrative, creating a universal parable that leaps over cultural barriers. This is the story of young Lola (Franka Potente) and her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). In the space of 20 minutes, they must come up with 100,000 deutsche marks to pay back a seedy gangster, who will be less than forgiving when he finds out that Manni incompetently lost his cash to an opportunistic vagrant. Lola, confronted with one obstacle after another, rides an emotional roller coaster in her high-speed efforts to help the hapless Manni--attempting to extract the cash first from her double-dealing father (appropriately a bank manager), and then by any means necessary. From this point nothing goes right for either protagonist, but just when you think you've figured out the movie, the director introduces a series of brilliant existential twists that boggle the mind. Tykwer uses rapid camera movements and innovative pauses to explore the theme of cause and effect. Accompanied by a pulse-pounding soundtrack, we follow Lola through every turn and every heartbreak as she and Manni rush forward on a collision course with fate. There were a variety of original and intelligent films released in 1999, but perhaps none were as witty and clever as this little gem--one of the best foreign films of the year. --Jeremy Storey

Product Description

This 80 minute foreign feature film is a DVD starring Fran ka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, and Herbert Knaup.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

172 of 192 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Frenzied Masterpiece May 31, 2000

By Bob Thompson

Format:DVD

Run Lola Run is the type of frenzied arthouse picture that just doesn't get made here in North America. That's really a shame because Run Lola Run is definitley one of the best movies of the year. From a cinematic point of view "Lola" is one of the most creative and energetic films that I have ever seen.

The plot revolves around Lola, a woman who has twenty minutes to save her boyfriend's life from German gangsters. To do this she must miraculously acquire 100,000 Marks.

The film is appropriately titled as Lola really does run for practically the entire film. When she does not succeed in saving her boyfriend the movie cuts back to the opening sequence and the film plays out yet again in an entirely different fashion. The central idea is that small variations in behaviour can change the entire outcome of a situation. This idea was also explored in "Sliding Doors", unfortunately, with far more mixed results.

Eventually the cycle repeats itself three times over the movies one hour twenty minute screen time. Run Lola Run is just bubbling with creative ideas and really is a stunning ride. The action never really lets up (except in a brief bed scene) and is filmed in the kind of frenetic, crazy style that MTV would be proud of. Lola is also extremely funny in many parts especially when the film briefly delves into the future's of various small characters.

This is a perfect little film that stands up to repeated viewings. It is smart, entertaining and is something that is completely unique. Hollywood movies rarely have those three qualities, this German one does.

64 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sliding Doors Meets Trainspotting - Five Stars isn't enough! June 9, 2000

By Dark Trippers

Format:DVD

Catch this superb German film before Hollywood decides to remake it (and believe me, they will). This is cinema in its purest, most kinetic form.

The plot is simple: Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 marks that her boyfriend Manni owes to drug dealers, otherwise he's going to have to rob a store to get it. And that's it, basically. Only, ingeniously, we are treated to 3 versions of her run (or perhaps alternative universes), events unfolding differently depending on how long it takes her and the choices she makes. The attention to detail is stunning, and every little image and incident is relevant to the taut plotting. A wonderfully choreographed study of time and space.

What we have is a kind of Sliding Doors (or Fowles' French Lieutenant's Woman) meets Pulp Fiction with all the energy and modernity of Trainspotting, mixing drama, tragedy and dark humour. Run Lola Run is a whirlwind race against time as our flame-haired heroine pounds the sidewalks of Berlin, unknowingly initiating traffic accidents, bank heists, uncovering dark family secrets, and changing the lives of the people she encounters on her way (beautifully executed in a series of Polaroid montages) in a complex web of cause and effect.

Furiously paced, and edited, Twyker's masterpiece of Chance bombards us with an entire catalogue of camera tricks, techniques and mediums; split screen, time lapse, animation (in the cartoon sense), anything to grab our attention and immerse us in the situation, and is enhance by an excellent techno soundtrack (composed by Twyker).

Presented on DVD with a decent extras package, Run Lola Run is a rush - in every sense of the word - from start to finish. (Watch it in German with the English subtitles, however, as the dubbed English soundtrack is dire.)

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely fast-paced and exciting December 29, 1999

By John

Format:DVD

Run Lola Run was the first movie on DVD that I had ever purchased without seeing it first. I based my purchase on the great reviews of the film I had read time and time again. The DVD arrived this week and I was not dissapointed.

The film is only 81 minutes long, and is extremely fast-paced and tense for the entire time. You really have to pay attention during the movie and suspend disbelief for a while to really enjoy this one.

The quality of the DVD transfer is very good. The picture is great, and the sound is outstanding (the film has a good heavy soundtrack). The extras on the disc aren't too exciting, but it is nice to have both German/English language tracks as well as English/French/None subtitles. I thought the english dubbing was done exceptionally well (except for the first scene).

One interesting thing to note is that it is a double sided DVD, with the fullscreen version on one side and the widescreen version on the other side. There is no label on the DVD... only very very tiny print on the innermost rim of the disc. You have to have some good eyes to read it.

I highly recommend this movie. But get it on DVD. It wouldn't be half as good on VHS.