filmbore pick of the week - Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run

Director: Tom Tykwer
Screenplay: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup
Year: 1998
Language: German
UK rental release: December 1999

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As you know, world cinema is a big deal on filmbore. And over the years, there are times when foreign films seep into the western cultural mainstream, as a fashionable interest in something unique and alternative wets the taste buds of the movie going masses. As fleeting as this moment can be, it's usually thanks to one or two pictures at that present time that open the flood gates to the borders outside of English speaking territories, and in 1998 there was such a film...Run Lola Run.

Hyper-frenzied, nitro-red haired Lola (Franka Potente, The Princess And The Warrior, The Bourne Identity) receives a stressful phone call. Her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu, The Baader Meinhof Complex, Das Experiment) is charged up, clearly upset by her lack of presence when he needed her the most. She didn't make it on time for an important meet up with him, and her unexpected lateness has really put him on the spot.

After an initially successful diamond smuggling attempt, on his journey back home, Manni misplaces a bag full of cash, the payment for the couriered jewels on a subway train. And now he owes a lot of money to some dangerous people. If he can't pay up, he's knows he's a dead man.

Lola's lateness to the rendezvous was out of her hands though, through an unfortunate situation regarding her mode of transport. While popping into a tobacconist to pick up some cigarettes, somebody zipped by swiftly and stole her moped. If she still had her bike, she would have met him on time and taken him home with no trouble.

So, without her trusty moped and a heapful of cash to locate in just 20 minutes, Lola must think quickly. In hardly no time at all, Lola has to find 100,000 Deutsche Marks. And if she doesn't get to Manni sooner, he may even rob a nearby supermarket to get hold of the readies. She has no choice...but to run!

Lola darts across the city, disregarding all obstacles in her path, desperately begging her bank managing father (Herbert Knaup, The Lives Of Others, In Darkness) to help. Wound up in an affair with another woman to her mother, Lola catches him with her, already feeding tension into the her following plea. Unwilling to assist her in her plight, he leads her out of the bank and leaves her with some startling news about her family.

Now broken, penniless and fired up more than before, she takes to sprint once more, seeking out Manni to try and save him and prevent him from committing armed robbery. But, her fate leads her to a shocking upheaval...and as we zoom into her shocked expression she utters "Stop!...

...Suddenly we're whisked back to her apartment, post- phone call with Manni again, right back where we started. She has 20 minutes to find 100,000 Deutsche Marks in order to save Manni. Can she save him this time around?

The big selling point of this film is, of course, the tri-chapter method of telling the same story but with different finales. The leading animation vignette at the start of her journey become the segue into each segment, as the clock is turned back for another attempt. 

As we follow her down the spiral staircase, into the streets of the city we're engulfed with a chunky soundtrack. The music, hedonistic and progressive, heightens the tension and excites the viewer. Also, here's a bit of trivia for you - the core theme is an evolving track spliced amidst the scenes, where the key vocal is sung by none other than our lead, Franka Potente.

Franka is striking in this film. This isn't just due to her fiery hair either, as her natural screen presence is as effervescent as ever. Without words, she commands attention, while every bead of sweat pouring down her brow, delivered from her cardio-based transportation, is 1% water, 99% charisma. She was still young when this was made and in the early trail of her performing career, making Run Lola Run a wonderful platform for her, leading her to bigger films thereafter.

The same can be said for Moritz Bleibtreu, who's great as a supporting lead. He truly has a face for film, where only a subtle facial tweak or a brief glance tells a thousand stories. Such a visage allows drama to fuel his scenario while also lending to a more comical approach when required.

And there's no ignoring the laughs here. There's great humour to be found, including one of the greatest screams ever captured on celluloid...there are a few thrown out there by Franka but it's the last one she gifts us with in the casino that really shakes the windows! The fact that this movie doesn't take itself too seriously makes it far more approachable to audiences that usually turn away from foreign films.

Another aid in popularising this picture is its overall aura. It definitely has a pulp vibe, which I think has really helped it to reach more of a mainstream audience. It paints itself with the airs of a comic book, inviting you in to its exuberant art and vivid colouring. Filming moves from colour to black-and-white, from high quality to poor, adding extra layers to an already intense package. 

Not only does the lens flip in its look, but in motion too. The camera work is frantic and over emphasised, fusing the tale with a fantasy feel. What has really solidified this piece, however, is the choice to shoot it on location in Berlin. The story is never referred to as based in the German capital, instead opting to an anonymous European metropolis as the stage for Lola's experiences. Yet, we still get to experience some of the startling and unusually retro architecture of this vibrant city, which is taking advantage of by the cinematography of Frank Griebe, a regular of our director and screenwriter, Tom Tykwer.

Tykwer decision to run the film loosely in real time is perfect, drawing you in to the action unfolding. This method brings real pace to the story, absorbing you from beginning to end, beginning to end and, finally, beginning to end! From the off, you're on a hectic adventure with Lola, where every second and every step are a vital part to her success or failure.

This brings me neatly back to the structure of Run Lola Run. The repetition of the dilemma, transformed by the smallest of circumstance opens some interesting thematic angles. It's laced throughout with spirals, not only in the opening cartoon staircase, but in imagery at poignant moments in the tale. The perpetual nature of this geometric presence lends to the ebb and flow of decisions made and the all encompassing thread of the universe; how we are all intrinsically linked through the smallest of acts and where whatever you try and achieve you are always lead right back to where you start.

It forces you to consider the power of luck and chance, and if grasped head on, ponder whether fate will pay you dividend. More scientifically, you could argue that there is further strength in the chaotic patters of cause-and-effect at play here, where conscious or unconscious actions take consequence on your next steps.

These themes are examined on a microcosmic scale through some of her encounters. These are my favourite elements of the film. Lola will brush pass a woman, and then we're treated to snapshots of the next events of the passer-by's life. Later, when she passes her again in the next chapter, in a slightly different manner, we are presented with the same idea but the path taken by the bystander is different. This subtlety feeds to such drastically different perspectives and outcomes from the slightest of encounters at different times, in different places.

In this, it riffs on Krystof Kieślowski's "Blind Chance", where the slightest alteration to a core event sets off a chain reaction of fateful actions, wholly finalising in a different outcome each time. But it's not so much the early changes, or the alternate finale of each segment that's most interesting, but the journey taking from start to end. Represented by Lola's determination to succeed each time through the medium of the title's need to run, the pace of the scenarios in their congealed form is where you see the true beauty in this masterfully original piece.

Run Lola Run is one of the more renowned pieces of world cinema around the time of its release. Even so, sometimes intriguing pieces such as this need to re-earthed for further viewing and re-honoured in an attempt to reach out to those of you who have not partaken in its charms. If you are still new to the hidden gems of foreign film, this is a great place to start, for humour, drama, intensity, startling camera work and digestible tale that have you running for the remote for a re-watch.

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