Run Lola Run [Blu-ray]

I love this movie - but I can see why some people hate it. This is NOT your typical movie - it has a very simple plot line and limited cast ... what makes it special is the way it is told (same story, multiple time lines).

I see hundreds of movies a year, but somehow, I had managed to miss RUN LOLA RUN until the first week in August, 2005. YEARS after the film had come out, and years after imitators had their shots at ruining the style (like imitators of PULP FICTION kinda cheapened that whole genre). Not to fear...this film is a kick of PURE ENERGY!!I felt honest-to-God jazzed watching this movie. Originality and ENERGY pop off the screen. Basically, we're watching three little movies...each of the same scenario, but playing out in different ways. We see how one or two tiny little changes early on can snowball into HUGE changes once the story reaches its end. Lola has to come up with a HUGE pile of money in 20 minutes flat, or her boyfriend will either be killed by a mobster, or take the foolish step of holding up a grocery store for the cash. Can she "fix" his problem in time? That's about the plot...but this summary tells you NOTHING about how this film feels.I'm a 41 year old man. Not the target audience. I don't listen to the kind of music played here (techno...for lack of a better word). I speak some German, but not enough that I didn't have to read the subtitles. I always look for holes in the plot of films. I'm always skeptical of "artiness for its own sake." And yet, while the film is "artful," I thought it was a perfect blending of a filmmaking style with a story-telling intent. Lola is under a deadline...and everything reminds us of that. The pulsing, repetitive score...the fast camera work...the color choices...everything.But the best part of all is Franke Potente, the star of the film. US audiences know her from the "girlfriend" role in BOURNE IDENTITY...and she was the best cast part of the film...she seemed real, smart, sexy, foreign and fully-realized. In RUN LOLA RUN, she shows why an American director casting a big-budget American film would have gone with her...she's GREAT! The film spends many minutes focused just on Lola running. From the side, from head-on...we see her run, run, run. Red/pink hair sailing wildly behind. Her face is a masterpiece...at one moment she's got fear, intelligence, determination and exhaustion etched there. She's very young, and in over her head...but we immediately want her to succeed as much as SHE wants to succeed. It's a riveting performance in a film full of fun ideas.If I sit back and think about it...I realize that what Lola is running for is to save a criminal boyfriend (who's also stupid and a bit of a whiner), and that performing criminal acts is not beyond her either. Most of the characters she encounters along her way (especially her father and his mistress), are quite unlikeable too. From a surface level, we should have NO business getting behind these schmucks. But Lola's ferocity is an undeniable magnet. And the film moves WAY too fast to do anything but leave you breathless.It's rated "R," mostly for some strong language, and for some unsavory scenes with the father and mistress. I don't recommend it by any stretch for kids...but I suggested it to my 17 year old son, and he loved it. He's showing it to his friends. It's a COOL movie...simply put. It deserves all the accolades that have come its way.

I have not watched a lot of foreign films so I thought I'd grab Run Lola, Run. It's a surreal film in a lot of ways. Even before we get to the star crossed lovers who get in over their heads with a fencing mob operation, the film wobbles through crowds of people asking about Man, the way he questions, the answers leading to more questions, in a circular philosophy.The camera focuses on a few of the people who will later play larger roles later in the film. Finally, a security guard says "Scheisse" happens and kicks a soccer ball high in the air!We fly with the ball, and then come down to Lola's world. As you've read in other reviews and synopses, it's basically about Lola's boyfriend, who explains that during a fencing operation with some diamonds, he sold the diamonds to a fence for 100,000 Marks, and now he only has twenty minutes before meeting the mob boss who will kill Manni (her boyfriend) when the boss finds out Manni lost the money on the subway."And it's all your fault for being late!" he yells at her which was really not fair, being the irresponsible dork that he really is. But I digress!Hitchcock has always said that rather than having a bunch of talking heads in a film, that one should use the cinema as a way of communicating (or words to that effect) and Lola definitely delivers.First, Lola actually has a power or two. First, she can run for miles without being hardly out of breath. And two, she can scream with such intensity that she can break glass.There are actually three scenarios or 20 minute clips that show the various fates of Lola and the people she runs across.In the first one, she screams and shatters mirrors! Then she throws the phone up in the air and it lands flawlessly on the phone cradle. Then she runs! There is some animation in here too as well as some cool electronic music to keep us moving. A few seconds difference in running into a neighbor's dog makes a woman who was delayed by this now win the lottery. Makes a bike thief become a bum. And so on!Manni wants to rob a store to get the money. Lola fails with her cheating father and helps Manni rob the store. She comes to a bad end.In the second one, much as the first, she throws the phone into the air, lands flawlessly on the cradle, but this time (to make a long story short) Manni meets an untimely fate.In the third one, when all parties are more or less behaving themselves and are doing good for others, things turn out the best. At least for Lola and Manni.The DVD has French and English subtitles if you want, as well as voice-over English and French. I chose the English and it went quite smoothly.Interesting too that the credits roll UP as opposed to American films rolling down. Wild stuff. Understandable why this film won the Audience Award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival.So run, do not walk, to your favorite DVD store and pick this up!Other Franka Potente (Lola) Films: The Princess and the Warrior Creep Bourne Identity (Single-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

In this 1998 thriller, Lola (Franka Potente) receives a frantic phone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a small-time criminal who has lost his bosses 100,000 marks because Lola failed to show at a rendezvous. Lola then realises she has 20 minutes before Manni robs a supermarket to get the money.The basic premise is that Lola relives her 20 minutes in an effort to change the outcome of events. The good things about this are it plays in real time, uses some split screen to illustrate simultaneous action, uses slo-mo all round photography a year before the Matrix and changes small details each time the scene is replayed so it never becomes repetitive. Full of minor details like the baby snatcher, a pushbike thief and many other background characters who all seem irrelevant but who actually all play a part, it’s a novel approach that really pulls this above the average, especially with the dynamic soundtrack.The main menu offers languages/audio set up [English 5.1 or German 5.1 default], subtitles [English on/off], scene selection, extra features [theatrical trailer, director & cast commentary on/off, Believe -music video, talent profiles] and play. Rated 15, this does have some infrequent swearing [including the F word] but no sex or nudity, although there are some scenes of flashing imagery. If you speak German, view with the German soundtrack or use the English subtitles, as the German sound is clearer and slightly louder and the subtitles are not very intrusive. Whichever you watch, I found the time seemed much shorter than the 90 minutes. Highly recommended if you like films with a time travel twist such as ‘Groundhog Day’ [1993] or ‘Sliding Doors’ [also 1998], Even if the main characters are actually anti-heroes, you just can't help rooting for them.

This is a review of the 2008 All Region Blu-ray from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, in German with (good) English subtitles. The ‘look’ is stated as being ‘true to the original source master’: for a Blu-ray this provides a surprisingly non-pristine image, but it's fine to watch.This 1998 cult German film is a thriller, running to a mere 79 minutes, and is another of those films that REALLY splits the jury. It is clear, even on Amazon, that some adore it, others cannot abide it. Actually, I can fully understand both viewpoints!First the facts. ‘Run Lola Run’ was filmed during July 1997 on location across Berlin, though in real life, the route locations are scattered all over the city. The film was one of the earliest works by German director, screenwriter and composer Tom Tykwer ~ here he undertook all 3 tasks. He is also well-known for the same achievement with the successful German TV series, ‘Babylon Berlin’. The star of the film, playing Lola, is Franka Potente, in only her second film role. It made her a star, and she went on to appear in 2 of the 3 Bourne films, ‘Blow and ‘Che’ amongst others. The film was well-received. It was nominated for a number of awards including a BAFTA, and was the German OSCAR submission, but was not selected for the final shortlist.So, the story! Lola’s boyfriend is working as a money courier for a very unpleasant, violent local gang boss, and leaves DM 100,000 of his illicit cash (about £35,000 in 1998) on a subway train. He phones Lola in a total panic, asking for her help. He MUST deliver the cash in 20 minutes. For the rest of the film, we see Lola trying to save him, in a ‘Groundhog Day’-esque ‘if this doesn’t work, try that’ set of alternate timelines.As suggested by the title, the plot plays out at a frenetic gallop, both in terms of action and in terms of jump-cuts, split screens, freeze-frames, 360° spins and cartoon renditions of the real-life action. It is accompanied by a mind-bendingly manic musical score, some of it superb, some downright tiresome. Initially, I was irritated, then actually annoyed, but then, I found myself hooked ~ and amused. You have to accept that this is not a serious film, it is more a cartoon played out by human characters. They are NOTHING LIKE real people, and the entire film is an entertaining but surreal rollercoaster.This German film is well worth persevering with, though it is UTTERLY outwith their wonderful but sober tradition of film-making ~ ‘M’ (1931); ’Das Boot’ (1981); ‘The Lives of Others’ (2006); ‘The White Ribbon’ (2009). Not a 5 Star offering though, more a high 4.

I saw this film on television and looked it up on Amazon and decided that at this price, I ought to buy it to add to my collection. It's a really clever film with terrific production values which makes it drive along at great pace as the sound-track pulsates along in tension-raising rhythms.Lola's boyfriend has lost 100,000 marks (this is 1999, pre-euro days) belonging to a gangster. Manni is given 20 minutes to get the money back to him and Lola moves into action to get the money back to him, dealing with one obstacle after another.The director plays many tricks with the viewer, freeze-framing at key points, re-running vital incidents with optional outcomes, and generally driving poor Lola along at fantastic pace leaving this viewer at least wondering how Franka Potente (Lola) coped with all that running! Set in Berlin, the city looks suitably bleak and ugly - the Lola and Manni look very European too, in an edgy sort of way which is a nice change from more conventionally beautiful American actresses/actors.I agree with other reviewers - select the option to watch it in German with subtitles - the dubbing on the English version is terrible.The music is available on a well-known music streaming service (with a green circular icon) and I play it over and over again (presumable generating some unexpected royalties for the creator.

The gist of this German film is that Moritz Bleibtreu plays a minor player in a criminal gang who, due to his own incompetence, has to find 100,000DMs in twenty minutes. As one character in the film remarks, “Well, we all have our bad days.”The film was written and directed (and, as usual, partly scored) by Tom Tykwer (‘Perfume’). My DVD includes a commentary by him in English along with the female lead, Franka Potente. In the commentary, as well as explaining the complex filming techniques employed, he points out how his film turns normal cinematic timescales on their head. Normally a film will take a long period of time and reduce it to ninety minutes, but his takes twenty minutes and expands it.It’s well-constructed but ultimately a silly but brilliant conceit: of course, if Franka Potente’s character can reverse time, why does she not reverse it to the point where her moped is stolen and thus preventing the whole ensuing enterprise? Still, the seventy-seven minutes the film lasts are entertaining enough.

It has similarities with "Sliding Doors" or "Groundhog Day". The same day is repeated several times with the same occurrences but different endings during the day.The film is well named, Lola is running for at least half the film! All I can say is that if Franka Potente enters the next Olympic Marathon... Paula Radcliffe has no chance!It is an odd, quirky film. After the first days repeat, I almost turned it off. But, stick with it.There are many emotions and it kicks the ideas box in your brain a couple of times.It has a happy ending and is more believable than many Hollywood films I have had to suffer watching.It is hardly an Oscar rated film, but it is worth watching. Maybe it will grow on you...!German made in German language, but one track is decently dubbed in English. Plus subtitles in English only, are available.