This modern German film from 1999,that was so stunning and brilliantly edited won many awards at the Sundance Film Festival. The audience was taken away on this fast pace exhilarating ride which in turn warrants those watching to think about the circular narrative and its elements. All elements of the film including soundtrack and opening credits are incorporated into this them of a story being told through three different threads and three different experiences. The opening credits are displayed in cartoon form, as well as some of the traveling/running that Lola (Franka Potente) does through out the film. The soundtrack fills the film with a fast paced feeling and adds to the heart-pumping adrenalin rush that element of limited time creates. Fast camera angles, the use of panning, the incorporation of cartoons, the use of outdoor scenery ( no sound stage used), and close face shots are some of the main filming techniques used to make what I can only describe as an MTV video style of film making. The use of high speed camera shows areas of the plot that remains constant while the hi 8 camera is used in portions of the plot that changes in each of the 3 episodes. Also the use of red tinting shows a difference from real life and inside the characters thoughts. The audience is placed into the middle of the plot, there is no real introduction to the main characters, Lola and Manni, ( Moritz Bleibtreu) until after the main crisis of a loss of a bag filled of money that is suppose to be in the hands of a crook/ gangster with in the next 20 min from the time of the main character's conversation. This discussion is repeated 3 times until the characters successfully complete the task that lays before them. They either have to produce a replacement bag of money, or find the missing sack. In each of the 3 episodes the same characters are present as well as the same events but they either are incorporated or interact differently. For example, each episode has glass shattering. If the red ambulance does not crash through glass that is being carried across a main highway, then glass is broken by Lola screaming. Each episode also has elements of time, breaking of time, the different use of fire arm, running, and the use of the same script by the characters. The episodes are broken apart by either Manni or Lola dying, and in these deaths the audience is brought into the head of the characters to where they talk of love, life, death and loss. The audience is shown a place where the characters have a choice, which in turn is how they can relive the same morning events. This allows the audience to discover new interactions amongst the characters, discover new pieces of each story and how fit into one overall tapestry of a day in the characters lives. This film grabs the audience from the very beginning and proceeds to take them on an intense ride filled with lows and highs. One that can be watched over and over again due to the lack of information or images that is constantly being discovered. The complex and layered tale that unfolds in Run Lola Run is amazingly and almost unbelievably made better through the editing, film footage style, and soundtrack. The unusually dramatic images and different style than other films of the latter 90's sets Run Lola Run in a class of it's own
Review of Run Lola Run
