HomeRun, Lola, Run review
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Run, Lola, Run review
by Thingy 2010-03-17, 19:39
Run Lola Run is a (probably to you) obscure German film by Tom Tywker.
Lola runs. These two words is all you need to sum up the premise of the movie. There are of course lots of details, but these two words are basically the whole premise of the movie. Lola runs and runs and runs, and things happen on the way. However, that doesn't mean the movie is boring or unoriginal. In fact, i found this movie to be like a fresh breeze of originality after an onslaught of unimaginative mainstream movies.
The story is nothing special. Lola's boyfriend, who works as a delivery boy for some gangsters, has lost a crapload of cash. A hundred thousand mark to be exact, and if he doesn't get those hundred thousand mark within twenty minutes, which is the time it takes for the gangsters to arrive to the meeting spot, he\\'s in trouble. Lola, who is the daughter of a bank director, is his only hope. Sounds like an OK short film, right?
Franka Potente plays Lola.
However, it's the execution that makes the movie so good. It starts by briefly explaining what's going on in a flashback aided phone conversation between Lola and Manni (her boyfriend), and then starts running. All the details are revealed by flash backs and conversations on the way.
The story of Lola Rennt takes places in only twenty minutes. I believe most film makers would make it into a full length film by adding full length scenes of what happens before he calls Lola (which is where this movie begins) and/or adding scenes of what happens after she succeeds or fails, but Tom Tywker has taken a completely different route. He used the 20 minute story 3 times.
This might sound like a shitty idea, but he pulls it off quite well by focusing on the effect seemingly small events and decisions and luck (or perhaps fate) has on the bigger picture. Each time Lola runs, she (or someone else) takes a different decision than last time, and some things that happen by chance happen differently, thus altering the entire course of events. Some events are altered in a small way, some in a huge way and completely altering the outcome of the story.
I will be honest with you. I'm not an expert when it comes to camera angles and the like (that's DW's area of expertise), but i thought the camera angles and scene transitions were quite good. They didn't feel strange and gave a good understanding of the scene and the action.
The acting however was great. The dialog felt like something real people would say in that situation most of the time and the body language and movement (when i say body language and movement i mean the way the characters react and move) felt very convincing.
The soundtrack was also great. It reinforced the mood of the scene, which meant that most scenes felt like intense action scenes. Even the intro, which really only was a phone conversation from the viewpoint of an observer, was reinforced by the soundtrack which reflected what the characters felt at the moment. Sometimes, if you listen carefully, you\\'ll hear that the lyrics are reflecting what the characters (Lola, most of the time) are thinking. The soundtrack is even great separately, i have to confess that i found myself listening to it on youtube, which is quite rare for a movie soundtrack.
This is the part where i do some nitpicking, but to be honest, i couldn't find much bad with it. The cartoon in the beginning was a little unnecessary i guess and they sometimes spoke too fast for my german level, but these two pathetic complaints are all i can come up with... This move is that good...
Lola runs. These two words is all you need to sum up the premise of the movie. There are of course lots of details, but these two words are basically the whole premise of the movie. Lola runs and runs and runs, and things happen on the way. However, that doesn't mean the movie is boring or unoriginal. In fact, i found this movie to be like a fresh breeze of originality after an onslaught of unimaginative mainstream movies.
The story is nothing special. Lola's boyfriend, who works as a delivery boy for some gangsters, has lost a crapload of cash. A hundred thousand mark to be exact, and if he doesn't get those hundred thousand mark within twenty minutes, which is the time it takes for the gangsters to arrive to the meeting spot, he\\'s in trouble. Lola, who is the daughter of a bank director, is his only hope. Sounds like an OK short film, right?
Franka Potente plays Lola.
However, it's the execution that makes the movie so good. It starts by briefly explaining what's going on in a flashback aided phone conversation between Lola and Manni (her boyfriend), and then starts running. All the details are revealed by flash backs and conversations on the way.
The story of Lola Rennt takes places in only twenty minutes. I believe most film makers would make it into a full length film by adding full length scenes of what happens before he calls Lola (which is where this movie begins) and/or adding scenes of what happens after she succeeds or fails, but Tom Tywker has taken a completely different route. He used the 20 minute story 3 times.
This might sound like a shitty idea, but he pulls it off quite well by focusing on the effect seemingly small events and decisions and luck (or perhaps fate) has on the bigger picture. Each time Lola runs, she (or someone else) takes a different decision than last time, and some things that happen by chance happen differently, thus altering the entire course of events. Some events are altered in a small way, some in a huge way and completely altering the outcome of the story.
I will be honest with you. I'm not an expert when it comes to camera angles and the like (that's DW's area of expertise), but i thought the camera angles and scene transitions were quite good. They didn't feel strange and gave a good understanding of the scene and the action.
The acting however was great. The dialog felt like something real people would say in that situation most of the time and the body language and movement (when i say body language and movement i mean the way the characters react and move) felt very convincing.
The soundtrack was also great. It reinforced the mood of the scene, which meant that most scenes felt like intense action scenes. Even the intro, which really only was a phone conversation from the viewpoint of an observer, was reinforced by the soundtrack which reflected what the characters felt at the moment. Sometimes, if you listen carefully, you\\'ll hear that the lyrics are reflecting what the characters (Lola, most of the time) are thinking. The soundtrack is even great separately, i have to confess that i found myself listening to it on youtube, which is quite rare for a movie soundtrack.
This is the part where i do some nitpicking, but to be honest, i couldn't find much bad with it. The cartoon in the beginning was a little unnecessary i guess and they sometimes spoke too fast for my german level, but these two pathetic complaints are all i can come up with... This move is that good...