Movie Review – Run Lola Run

Hits you high and leaves you dry

Run Lola Run was all about nostalgia. I wanted to watch a movie which would take me back to the good old dog day afternoons where I used to watch movies nonstop in a room even without ceiling fan. I couldn’t go to that level and just randomly click on a movie because I’ve become conscious of what I consume. Two movies were in contention, Inland Empire and Run Lola Run. I chose the latter owing to the run time and also due to the familiarity in title to ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ but I should soon catch up with Inland Empire. I’m afraid of exhausting Lynch’s movies but still… I’ve to.

I was so happy that I chose the right film. It’s a truly independent film. It is fun right from scene one. With the run time only just over an hour the film can be segmented into three parts. All three of it so cleverly done. The timeline is the most fascinating thing about this film. Films like this inspire people. May be that’s what happened when ‘Breathless’ came out. But I got more inspired with this film. It made me feel that I too can take up the camera and shoot. What if it doesn’t come out well? It’s still a product of my interest.

The idea looks farfetched. Fetching 10000 Marks in twenty minutes. Also when she gets killed by the police initially we think it’s all over but we get to see that it ain’t over. That’s a fast one which Tykwer pulls on us. The films motif seems to be resembling Vertigo, but the style reminded me of Guy Ritchie’s. ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ specifically. 

I loved how the film doesn’t try to moralize us. We’re made to root for Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) even though we know that he’s not a good guy. The things that Lola (Franka Potente) does are not necessarily good yet we root for her. The flashbacks or flash forwards of the characters she stumbles upon (literally) are beautiful. It’s not one of those flashy Butterfly effect movies but a movie which is earthier. The characters develop into someone different with every dash of the heroine. That’s a great idea, much like Linklaters ‘Waking Life’. But something more fun than that.

Even though the film doesn’t moralize, it’s not a film which is cold on characters too. For example, there is a little bit of tension for the scene where Lola’s dad and her girlfriend are involved, even the picturisation of it is grainy. In the same way the car crash scene, the best of the time loop sequence that. Also the homeless man scene, when Lola runs in an alley and we don’t spot that homeless man we were left to wonder. That’s a great cinematic moment. These scenes bring life to the movie and end up being a superior film, not just a mere gimmick. But my favorite scene would be the one where Manni gets the money from Homeless man and Homeless man in turn asks for his gun. He ends up saying sorry to the homeless man. I’m sure many of us would have felt bad for the homeless man even before Manni says sorry. That was indeed, philosophical.

Right from the title card the films motive was clear. I liked one of the comparison made between ‘Speed’ and this film. Where ‘Speed’ is just an adrenaline pumping no brainer action film, ‘Run Lola Run’ is an intelligent film. The bus runs all the while in ‘Speed’ but it’s just the context which is interesting, the scenes as such are mundane but here in ‘Run Lola Run’ every run of Lola is superbly choreographed and made interesting. We get to infer a lot of things. It stays true to the title as well as works intellectually too.

The movies climax sequence was slightly disappointing, I didn’t like the ambulance effect, it kind of spoilt the speed of the film, yet as a whole, seeing Manny come out from the car of his boss and getting a pat on the cheek was a sweet touch.