Movie Review: Run Lola Run (1998)
German, subtitled in English
`Run Lola Run' is a thoroughly likable film, a hyperactive visual treat that combines 35mm with video, stills, and animation. Combined with a satisfying story line and some deliciously understated acting, it's far and away my favorite movie of the summer.
A lot has been said about this film's fast paced visual style. It has even been compared (unfairly, I think) to a video game. At its heart, though, is a classic dramatic structure. The plot is simple: Lola's lover, a small-time hood named Manni, has managed to get himself in desperate trouble. They have twenty minutes to come up with the100,000 DM of mobster's money that he has lost. The frantic race to the finish tests, and reveals, character. Revelations are made, tension is built up and released.
What's not so classical is that the same race is run three times; it's as if the characters have the ability to rewind and re-do until they get it right. Basically, Lola tells Manni to wait where he is and not do anything until she gets there; she then sprints across town to her father's bank to try to get the money out of him. Each version plays out almost, but not quite, the same as the previous ones. And it's these small differences that make all the difference.
What we have here is theme and variations. There's a musical analogy. And it's no coincidence that the film's writer and producer, Tom Tykwer, also composed the soundtrack. Pace and rhythm are crucial to making this movie work; it isn't all run at breakneck pace, there are also times when the action comes to a full stop, the visual equivalents of silence. And quiet moments. The on-screen pace directly evokes mood in the audience.
This isn't an empty-headed summertime entertainment that requires you to put your brain in neutral. At the risk of sounding pretentious and pedantic (and the movie itself is neither), there are some Big Issues raised, questions of free will versus the predetermined, of fate versus chaos. How much control do the characters have over these events, and how much is pure randomness? Lola bursts into her father's office, surprising him in the company of his mistress. This scene plays out twice; in the later version, a single further line of dialogue has time to pass between the couple, one line that changes everything, that drastically alters the events that follow. While on the other hand there is an unfortunate motorist who in all three versions, no matter what else happens differently, seems fated to slam his car into the pristine white BMW belonging to three very large and angry looking toughs.
`Run Lola Run' is very funny at times; it also has a strong `Thelma and Louise' quality that makes it impossible not to like Lola and to hope that she'll win. Guns are drawn and sometimes they go off, as guns will. Sometimes a gun in the hand means having the world by the tail, sometimes it spells tragedy. There is no moralizing here, it's plain story-telling. With some delightful twists.
Lola's character is so likable, so capable and determined, that I found myself bothered by her seeming willingness to sacrifice herself for Manni, who is kind of a loser and certainly not the brightest bulb on the tree. You don't have to be a rabid feminist to be bothered by seeing a smart woman cast in the role of a martyr to love. But my objection was answered by a scene halfway into the movie, a flashback involving some sweet, funny, and touching pillow talk between the two. In a nutshell it explains the relationship and what's in it for her. Manni makes her happy, and she'd rather he didn't end up with a bullet behind the ear.
Franka Potente, as Lola, is a joy to watch. Many key moments have no dialogue; it's all spelled out by the expression on her face as she reacts to events. Running through the streets of Berlin, she sometimes talks to herself, a kind of incantation, almost a prayer, willing things to work out for her. She also literally screams in frustration, a high-pitched, glass-shattering wail that goes on forever, a release of the primal energy that the character seems to have a gross abundance of.
`Run Lola Run' is proof that a smart film can also be loads of fun.
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