I recently re-watched the German "Art house" film "Run Lola Run."
From the opening credits where a swinging pendulum sets the pace, we hear a clock ticking, the beat of the music starts, and this movie never stops with its frenetic and frantic pace. It's a visual cacophony of different and exciting images that run at you around every corner to build in your brain faster and faster until the end of the movie. Phew. Then your heart is still racing from the experience and you want to see it again.
Run Lola Run is three films in one. Yet, it's the same film time and time again. But it's vastly different in that only the characters are the same. The story hits you repeatedly and builds without repetition. Each time Lola runs past someone on the street, you learn something new; sometimes funny and perhaps quirky about that person, and all within a few seconds, so that by the end of the film, it has been a complete encounter.
The basic story is that she is running to stop her boy friend from committing a crime. I'm sure I lost pounds just watching this girl run. She's beautiful and compelling. She's also hip and fit with red hair flying in the wind. A tight blue top reveals a white bra underneath, and her tight green pants flair at the bottom over black boots; definitely not running shoes.
This is a film like no other. It's so original that I would recommend it to literally anybody who is willing to suspend his or her belief in a linear world.
Run Lola Run is in German with subtitles, but you hardly need to read much dialogue before the images tell you the story.
Written and Directed by Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni her boyfriend
"The secret is just to keep moving."
-Franka Potente
Critic Quote:
"It delivers everything great foreign films should - action, sex, compelling characters, clever filmmaking, it's unpretentious (a requirement for me) and it has a story you can follow. I can't rave about this film enough - this is passionate filmmaking at it's best. One of the best foreign films, heck, one of the best films I have seen."
- Chris Gore
Written and Directed by Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni her boyfriend
"The secret is just to keep moving."
-Franka Potente
Critic Quote:
"It delivers everything great foreign films should - action, sex, compelling characters, clever filmmaking, it's unpretentious (a requirement for me) and it has a story you can follow. I can't rave about this film enough - this is passionate filmmaking at it's best. One of the best foreign films, heck, one of the best films I have seen."
- Chris Gore
