Run Lola Run, Lola Runs
The difference between life or death can be decided in a split second.
Rating: 8/10
Running Time: 81 minutes
US Certificate: R UK Certificate: 15
On DVD
Run Lola Run, for the most part, does exactly what it says on the tin. Its about a girl called Lola (Franka Potente), and she runs a lot. Thats not to say it doesnt have its share of unsettling moments. For example, theres the bit where a passer-by offers to sell her his bicycle, and for a horrible second it looks like she might accept. And then theres the bit where shes going along a corridor inside the bank, and it becomes more a case of Brisk Walk Lola Brisk Walk. And sometimes only sometimes, mind they substitute actual Lola running for poorly-animated Lola running, and that just isnt on. Suffice to say, the bits where shes not running are rubbish, and left me feeling short-changed. Thankfully, theyre few and far between.
So, wheres she running to then? Well, if you show a bit of patience, youll see I was just coming to that. At the start of the film, she receives a phone-call from her idiot boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). Hes been indulging in some dirty-dealings, and is supposed to deliver 100,000 Deutsche Marks to a local crim only the daft buggers gone and left the whole lot on the train, and now its been nicked by a homeless. So Lola, instead of doing the sensible thing and making an analogy about making your bed and lying in it, decides to try to find a replacement stash, sprint across town, and give it to her beloved plonker and all in about 20 minutes.
Girlies, of course, cant run properly, so it all proves to be quite a task for our Lola. To make things even tougher, the whole things repeated three times over, as writer-director Tom Tykwer attempts to show how the smallest of alterations to events can massively affect the entire outcome. And, as youd expect from a German film, its ruthlessly efficient, squeezing all of that and more into little over 80 minutes.
Its all too easy to think of Germany as only being about outdated Europop, stable currency and a deep, deep love of David Hasselhoff – but Run Lola Run proves that it also possesses the talent to be a breeding ground for innovative, exciting and above-all fun cinema. This might not be the deepest film ever made, but what it boils down to is a good, solid bit of entertainment which also manages to be highly original. Thats got to make it something of a rarity in this day and age.
It's Got: A diabolical advertisement for the quality of German policing.
It Needs: To dump the animated bits thankfully, theres not many of them.
DVD Extras Director and cast commentary, Ms Potentes own music vid Believe, talent profiles and a trailer. DVD Extras Rating: 5/10
Summary
Fun on the run.