Guest Author - Lisa Shea

Run Lola Run is a 1998 movie by German director Tom Tykwer. Now on DVD with English subtitles, the movie is a run romp through 20 minutes of frantic story.

Tom says in the director's commentary that he began this film with one central image - that of a woman running, desperately trying to get to some goal. From this initial premise he built out a story. With so many movies compressing a long period of time into 2 hours, he wanted to instead take a short 20 minute period of time and really examine it. He follows that same 20 minutes 3 times in a row, watching as events change each time.

The same sort of idea was followed in Sliding Doors - the idea that minor changes that seem to be inconsequential end up being critical to your life. In Run Lola Run, it happens several times.

Lola is the girlfriend of Manni, a small time thief. Someone's stolen Lola's moped, and she's unable to pick him up after a job. He then manages to lose the 100,000 marks and now has to find that much cash in only 20 minutes. Lola promises him she'll find a way.

On the first pass through, Lola goes to her dad for the cash. It turns out her dad is having an affair and has the guard toss her out. She barely makes it to Manni in time, and things turn out badly. On her next pass she has learned a few things - how to use a safety on a gun, for example. But it's the third try that turns out well.

There are interesting twists from run to run. The guard has heart troubles in run 2 - in run 3 he is in an ambulance having a heart attack. The moped thief who starts everything gets his just reward at the end of the movie. It's a movie that takes a few watchings to get all the connections.

I admit that this isn't a movie with a focus on acting. Most of the movie involves Lola frantically running from spot to spot, cars crashing through glass and then more running. There are a few spots of esoteric discussions in between the racing, but usually not enough to really help you connect with the characters.

I highly recommend NOT using the dubbed voices on this one. They are pretty atrocious. Watch it with the subtitles instead, and then listen to the commentary. It's quite interesting!