Watch Lola Run
Written: Oct 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: too many to list here
Cons: not a one
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| murasaki's Full Review: Run Lola Run |
What would you do if your boyfriend called you saying he lost the $100,000 he was supposed to deliver, and if he didn’t come up with the money in 20 minutes, some thugs would kill him? What would you do? You’d Run Lola Run!
The Plot:
This German film, Lola Rennt, revolves around Lola and Mannie, two Bohemian young adults and small-time hoods. Mannie has a job picking up diamonds, smuggling them across the border into Germany, exchanging the diamonds for cash, and then delivering the cash to Ronnie. All is going according to plan except Lola, who’s supposed to pick him up, shows up late after her motor scooter is stolen. Mannie doesn’t wait for her but catches a subway train. He panics when a couple of cops enter the station and leaves the money on the train.
Mannie calls Lola from the meeting place, before Ronnie is due to arrive and collect his money. If Mannie can’t come up with the money, Ronnie will kill him. Mannie and Lola have 20 minutes to find/steal/borrow $100,000 before Ronnie shows up. Lola has always said that love can do anything, but Mannie doesn’t believe that love will get him out of this fix. So Lola starts running to rescue her true love.
The Music:
The soundtrack for this movie is meant to keep the viewers’ hearts racing. The techno dance music does an admirable job of intensifying the action and emotion. The adrenaline is in high gear as Lola sprints from apartment to bank to grocery store to casino to meet Mannie.
The Cinematography:
Scenes with Lola and Mannie were shot with 35mm film, clear and colorful. Scenes without Lola or Mannie are grainier, less clear. The movie has a couple of vignettes that are replayed with certain details changed in each successive sequence. The director also included “And Then” photo montages detailing what happens to less significant characters based on their interaction with Lola as she runs through their lives. One or two details changed in Lola’s life add up to major changes of direction in the lives of the people she touches.
Run Lola Run has an artistic feel to it with use of slow motion, changing from profile to head-on shots of Lola running, the camera revolving around her when she stands still. The director also throws in use of a cartoon in places as well as the repetition of a significant phrase. Timing was extremely important so that the vignettes run together seamlessly without losing the audience or the momentum of the film—Run Lola Run succeeds admirably in this respect.
Technical Details:
I watched this movie on DVD and could play with dubbing and the subtitles. Interestingly enough, the subtitles and the dubbing are two different translations. I advise watching with one or the other, not both.
My Take:
After the first ten minutes of viewing, I could quite clearly pick out the stronger of the two in this romantic relationship. Mannie was in perpetual need of rescuing by the more level-headed, loyal, and fast-acting Lola. He got himself into this mess to begin with by leaving the money on the train for a bum to discover and expects Lola to get him out of it. He’s also kind of whiny about how she was late to pick him up despite circumstances outside her control. Whenever Mannie tries to take matters into his own hands, things go wrong for the most part (don’t want to spoil anything here). Fortunately for Mannie, Lola loves him and will commit crimes and other desperate acts for his sake.
I won’t spoil the ending for you, so my diatribe must end here. If you like foreign films in general, you’ll like Run Lola Run. If you don’t like foreign films because the main character usually commits suicide or goes insane, then I assure you, Run Lola Run is vastly different.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
murasaki
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