Run Lola Run

Tom Tykwer, Germany, 1998, 81 mins

Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) is very possibly the most incompetent criminal ever. His very first day on the job and he cocks up in magnificent style by inadvertently losing the 20,000 marks just 20 minutes before he’s due to deliver it to his bosses. Like any sane man he can think of only one sensible solution, call his girlfriend Lola (Franka Potente) – she’ll know what to do!

Run Lola Run is, as the title hints, probably the fastest, snappiest, highest octane film you’re likely to see this decade. Lola belts round Berlin through an unlikely combination of both cinematic and hand held camera work, fast cuts, pre-Amelie chatty photos, fantastic animations (reminiscent of the funky title sequence of Ruthless People), Polaroid life story flashes and all manner of visual trickery and plot peril. And she does all of this to the unmistakable sound of thumping German dance music. This film is so bloody good that even this usually dodgy Euro-dance is superb. Using the oft-tried but rarely-used-well technique of giving the story multiple outcomes Run Lola Run somehow manages to make the entire idea its own and unique, doing so with a look, feel and pacing which is still blisteringly fresh five years after its release. And as Lola runs through the various outcomes something deeply romantic starts to form in her memory so that the film takes a bizarre but magical turn.

To bring all the elements together – from Dogme-style sincerity to action movie moments via some brilliantly understated comedy – is some achievement and director Tom Tykwer deserves every bit of praise. He may not have lived up to the hype recently, but this film is wonderfully crammed with ideas and experimentation and is, above all else, pure genius and there’s no shame in that.

Undoubtedly though it is Franka Potente’s tough, flame-haired, ever-moving Lola that finally makes this the eminently rewatchable gem that it is. Something of her energetically increased heart rate will probably start rubbing off on you around the 60 minute mark, but the incredibly striking image of her sprinting round Berlin will stay with you long after the credits have rolled…

Review by Nicola Osborne
Taken from EUFS Programme Spring 2004

Dim witted petty crook Manni's in big trouble. He's just left a carrier bag containing loads of money belonging to his boss on the U-bahn. If his girlfriend, flame-haired punkette Lola, can't get him 100,000 Deutschmarks in the next 20 minutes, Manni's a dead man. Fortunate, then, that Lola's solidly respectable father is manager of a large city bank. If she hurries everything just might be okay. Run, Lola, run...

The third feature from German director Tom Tykwer - but the first to get a widespread international release - is one big rush of a film. Coming across like the mutant offspring of Sliding Doors and Trainspotting (though references to Groundhog Day, Natural Born Killers, Blind Chance, Rashomon and Tetsuo would probably be just as apposite) Run Lola Run charges along at an absolutely breathless, pace to a relentless, pounding techno soundtrack.

The director displays a dazzling array cinematic techiques. Stretching, compressing and replaying time, his masterstroke is to give us three alternate takes on what happens, both to Lola and Manni and - in a series of ultra-rapid freeze-frame montages - to those that they bump into during their quest. Switching in an instant from comedy to tragedy, Tykwer's control over his material - and the audiences reactions - is total.

Probably the closest cinema has yet got to the logic and mise-en-scene of a video game, Run Lola Run may have about as much connection to reality as Lara Croft's physique, but it's just as irresistible.

Review by David Khune Jr
Taken from EUFS programme spring 2000

"Posthuman" was the oft-quoted some-famous-critic's remark, by which he might have meant that Lola, in hyper-humanism, has all the powers of god as well as mortals, by which he is right, for the purpose of this excellent film, the best thing to come out of Germany that I know of since my old mate Suzanne. (Oh, she's a real person I'm afraid, not a film).

I don't know much about German film, but I'm very glad that this one made it to Edinburgh, as to me, it's an original despite its inherent repetition. Plotwise, Lola - ultra-cool hyper-babe, has to sort out her petty-gangster boyfriend - thick but lovable Manni - by raising some money the great fool lost, and instead of Groundhog Day, we have Groundhog 20 minutes, times three. The music thumps along, the plot does grip and the visuals are interesting - I especially enjoyed the photos of people's lives beyond the narrative-time, or at least said "My, what an interesting little touch in this fine little-interest-packed film".

Whether you think this film is a pre-millenial fable about mankind's mad dash towards 2000, a music video, a modern intensifying vision upon the power of the clock-face, a love story, a crime caper or a "gorgeous meditation of the lithe human form flowing against the cold, static cubism of Western Europe" (David Ng on 24framespersecond online review), you'll probably enjoy it. With no swearing or nudity and some use of cartoon, hey! - bring the kids too! (They will love it, but they won't get the brilliant bed-dialogue- scenes!)

Review by Indiana Jed
Written for EUFS Programme spring 2000