Run Lola Run (1998)

Directed by: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente

***

Run Lola Run is loud, fast paced, quick and sharp almost to the point where it seems more like a music video than a movie. The opening twenty minutes are so loud, fast paced, quick and sharp that its frustrating and difficult to watch but it settles down at appropriate times and ends up being a pretty good story with a very original style.

Franka Potente, better known for playing Jason Bourne's girl in The Bourne Identity, is Lola who needs to get 100,000 marks (German dollars) to her boyfriend in twenty minutes. Her quest to do so leads to shocking discoveries, dangerous encounters and flash forwards showing how she's effecting complete strangers. The story is told three times over, each time the timing of Lola's run changes in the slightest but the results or these changes are major. Tykwer does the smart thing with each of these almost identical versions of Lola's mission. The quick cuts and fast pace keep an audience from tuning out because they've already seen something. The story and the action may be the same but the style and the shots change enough to keep interest. Tykwer also understands that an hour and twenty minutes is really all the time he has before everything gets too busy, complicated and repetitive.

The fast paced, Guy Richie style works for the film but the real originality is in how Tykwer uses everything that surrounds Lola as something that can effect her ability to get the money she needs. In each of the three sequences, a small change sets in motion a new sequence of events. The changes being so small rather than something very obvious is what's original. She's not delayed or ahead by five minutes but only by seconds, yet the effects are still extreme. The problem with this is that while its original, its almost too subtle. For the most part, we see the changes and effects her timing has everywhere but there are some instances when those effects aren't so clear.

Fate is likely the main theme of Run Lola Run and the idea that we unknowingly control our own fate is the conclusion we're left with. We are to believe that each sequence has no relation to the previous ones but it does appear that Lola learns from her mistakes. Those mistakes she makes in each sequence could very well be a representation of mistakes she's made in her life. There's nothing to openly suggest this but I believe its a fair assessment.

Its not a great movie, but the way Twyker takes an original idea and uses but doesn't abuse it makes Run Lola Run a good one. Its a compelling story but its simple. There's not so much to take in that its impossible to appreciate what Twyker does with it. Twelve years ago, I can see Run Lola Run being much more influential but today, its still respectable.