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I see hundreds of movies a year, but somehow, I had managed to miss RUN LOLA RUN until the first week in August, 2005. YEARS after the film had come out, and years after imitators had their shots at ruining the style (like imitators of PULP FICTION kinda cheapened that whole genre). Not to fear...this film is a kick of PURE ENERGY!!
I felt honest-to-God jazzed watching this movie. Originality and ENERGY pop off the screen. Basically, we're watching three little movies...each of the same scenario, but playing out in different ways. We see how one or two tiny little changes early on can snowball into HUGE changes once the story reaches its end. Lola has to come up with a HUGE pile of money in 20 minutes flat, or her boyfriend will either be killed by a mobster, or take the foolish step of holding up a grocery store for the cash. Can she "fix" his problem in time? That's about the plot...but this summary tells you NOTHING about how this film feels.
I'm a 41 year old man. Not the target audience. I don't listen to the kind of music played here (techno...for lack of a better word). I speak some German, but not enough that I didn't have to read the subtitles. I always look for holes in the plot of films. I'm always skeptical of "artiness for its own sake." And yet, while the film is "artful," I thought it was a perfect blending of a filmmaking style with a story-telling intent. Lola is under a deadline...and everything reminds us of that. The pulsing, repetitive score...the fast camera work...the color choices...everything.
But the best part of all is Franke Potente, the star of the film. US audiences know her from the "girlfriend" role in BOURNE IDENTITY...and she was the best cast part of the film...she seemed real, smart, sexy, foreign and fully-realized. In RUN LOLA RUN, she shows why an American director casting a big-budget American film would have gone with her...she's GREAT! The film spends many minutes focused just on Lola running. From the side, from head-on...we see her run, run, run. Red/pink hair sailing wildly behind. Her face is a masterpiece...at one moment she's got fear, intelligence, determination and exhaustion etched there. She's very young, and in over her head...but we immediately want her to succeed as much as SHE wants to succeed. It's a riveting performance in a film full of fun ideas.
If I sit back and think about it...I realize that what Lola is running for is to save a criminal boyfriend (who's also stupid and a bit of a whiner), and that performing criminal acts is not beyond her either. Most of the characters she encounters along her way (especially her father and his mistress), are quite unlikeable too. From a surface level, we should have NO business getting behind these schmucks. But Lola's ferocity is an undeniable magnet. And the film moves WAY too fast to do anything but leave you breathless.
It's rated "R," mostly for some strong language, and for some unsavory scenes with the father and mistress. I don't recommend it by any stretch for kids...but I suggested it to my 17 year old son, and he loved it. He's showing it to his friends. It's a COOL movie...simply put. It deserves all the accolades that have come its way.
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Reviews with images
very pleasant surprise
This Movie was a very pleasant surprise and would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a Good German Movie!
Top reviews from other countries
Amit Amlani
Still running the race with Lola
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2024