Plot: What’s it about?
Run, Lola, Run is another is what is becoming a trend in movie making these days. What exactly is that trend, you ask? Alternate points of view, or in this case, alternate takes on the same story. It sounds plain, but I have loved every movie I’ve seen like this. Now, I’m sure that there was one movie that was a ‘pioneer’ of this sort of thing made by someone who not a lot of people have heard of. I think the first movie like this that I saw was Reservoir Dogs. Now this differs form Reservoir Dogs (and Pulp Fiction for that matter) in the sense that those Tarintino movies showed the events that happened, it just started in the middle and wrapped around to where the story began, then progressed from there. Run, Lola, Run is more on par with movies like Sliding Doors and Go, both of which I loved. Those movies take events and do variations on them, or tell the same story from a different character’s point of view. Anyhow, I thought that may help before I progressed with the review… With the above being said, Run, Lola, Run is still one of the more clever and imaginative movies that has come around in quite a while. It is a German film, true German at that, the disc has two 5.1 soundtracks one in it’s ‘native’ language and one dubbed in English. The story(ies) center around two main characters, Lola (Franka Potente) and Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) and the plot(s) go like this…Manni is a small time drug pusher, he makes quite a good living at it, but has lost 100,000 franks (or whatever they’re called over there) and he will die in 20 minutes when his boss arrives to pick him and the money, up. In a panic, he calls Lola and tells her of his predictament, and blames her. She wasn’t at the designated point to pick him up, so he took the train, got chased by the cops and left the money on a train only to be found (the money) by some bum. Now that part of the movie remains the same all the way through, there’s no changing that. That, as they say, is set in stone. Where Run, Lola, Run takes off (pardon the pun) is when the phone slams down, and it does. Now I’m not going to try and ruin the endings of each section of the movie, but I might unintentionally do so, so if you have even the slightest inkling that you don’t want to know any more stop reading here! In the first outing, Lola hangs up the phone and takes off like a bat out of hell. She’s running, thinking what to do to get $100,000, who can she call. All the time she’s thinking of what Manni told her, that if she weren’t there to meet him with the money he would take matters into his own hands and rob the nearby grocery store. Mixed in with a dash of techno animation, Lola makes her way to her father’s office, where we discover that he is having an affair. Bad goes to worse when he will not only give Lola the money she needs, but then tells her that she is an orphan and basically disowns her right then and there. Needless to say, ending one is not at all happy… This goes right into the second part of the movie, and it’s here where I really started to like it. I had heard so many good things about the movie, but was kind of let down until here. I wanted to know what they were going to do with the other 55 minutes of the movie, for one! Story two starts the same as story one, the phone slams down, and the animation kicks in, but something different happens. Could it be that she fell over the dog at the end of the hall that she didn’t see the last time, could it be that she turns left instead of right. She makes a lot of the same decisions, but this time decides to take a different route to get the money. Relying on a streak of adrenaline that never seems to end and an enormous streak of good luck, she makes her way to the phone booth to meet Manni. Did she make it in time? Time for the third, and final part to this story. This starts out the same as the other two, the phone slams down and the animation starts, but what is the deal with this dog? I dunno. Making yet another series of right (or wrong) calls, she makes her way to the bank, but then decides to depend of blind, random luck to get the money. This might be the only part of the film that I did not like, the third ending. Lola, as I mentioned before, has an incredible streak of luck and decides to take all she has and chance it at the roulette table. I wonder how she does? Run, Lola, Run is one of the better films I’ve seen in years. For a foreign film, which I usually stay away from, it has all the things that make us Americans like movies. Action, adventure, and a bit of the unknown. I wonder how many more movies like Run, Lola, Run will come out in the future? It is an interesting concept, just think of how different films could be. Not any film in particular, just all films? How different would your life be if maybe you took a left and were supposed to take a right? Maybe nothing would happen, maybe your life would be changed…who knows. Run, Lola, Run won’t change your life, but it’s worth a real hard look on DVD.
Video: How does it look?
Run, Lola, Run is a Columbia Tristar title, and the picture is living proof. The 1.85:1 anamorphic picture looks positively stunning (I don’t think I’ve ever used that adjective, so why not?). Lola’s firey red hair practically jumps out at you. All the colors are bright and vivid with no hint, anywhere, of artifacting. One of the better transfers that this reviewer has ever seen! Take note, Fox!
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio comes in two different 5.1 soundtracks. There is the native German soundtrack, which I only listened to briefly, but it does sound a bit better than it’s American counterpart. The surround effects are prevelant, and if you’ve never heard glass break, then you should hear this! All other audio sounds just as good as any other recent movie. Another nice feature to this movie, great sound from a foreign movie.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Along with the two 5.1 soundtracks, you get a music video of some German band, and a trailer, but what is most interesting is the commentary by director, Tom Tykwer and Lola herself. It’s a bit hard to understand them at times, but they offer a bit more insight into what this movie really meant. It’s a great addition to a great movie. I recommend this, for sure!
