Run Lola Run (1998)
February 27, 2016 6:27 PM - Subscribe
After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.
The Guardian: Nothing less than a renaissance of the German film industry is expected of Run Lola Run, by the young director Tom Tykwer, whose outstanding debut feature, Wintersleepers, was an international hit. This movie is effectively three variations on a theme: that theme being Lola (Franka Potente), a flame-haired punkette running like mad through the streets of Berlin.
NYTimes: Mr. Tykwer does this with a vigor and pizazz that offset the essentially empty nature of the exercise. And he makes ''Run Lola Run'' sufficiently hot, fast and post-human to pull that off. For its sheer cleverness and gamesmanship, its altered sense of emotion and meaning in the face of breathless forward momentum, his film makes a startling harbinger of things to come. Mr. Tykwer deliberately blows away all traces of the mundane and the familiar, so that not even the closing credit crawl moves in the expected way.
Roger Ebert: "Run Lola Run" is essentially a film about itself, a closed loop of style. Movies about characters on the run usually involve a linear story ("The Fugitive" comes to mind), but this one is basically about running--and about the way that movie action sequences have a life and logic of their own. I would not want to see a sequel to the film, and at 81 minutes it isn't a second too short, but what it does, it does cheerfully, with great energy, and very well.
Trailer
Filming locations
The Guardian: Nothing less than a renaissance of the German film industry is expected of Run Lola Run, by the young director Tom Tykwer, whose outstanding debut feature, Wintersleepers, was an international hit. This movie is effectively three variations on a theme: that theme being Lola (Franka Potente), a flame-haired punkette running like mad through the streets of Berlin.
NYTimes: Mr. Tykwer does this with a vigor and pizazz that offset the essentially empty nature of the exercise. And he makes ''Run Lola Run'' sufficiently hot, fast and post-human to pull that off. For its sheer cleverness and gamesmanship, its altered sense of emotion and meaning in the face of breathless forward momentum, his film makes a startling harbinger of things to come. Mr. Tykwer deliberately blows away all traces of the mundane and the familiar, so that not even the closing credit crawl moves in the expected way.
Roger Ebert: "Run Lola Run" is essentially a film about itself, a closed loop of style. Movies about characters on the run usually involve a linear story ("The Fugitive" comes to mind), but this one is basically about running--and about the way that movie action sequences have a life and logic of their own. I would not want to see a sequel to the film, and at 81 minutes it isn't a second too short, but what it does, it does cheerfully, with great energy, and very well.
Trailer
Filming locations
Saw this in the theater when it came out and loved it. It's definitely one of those that I'm a little scared to see again since I'm not sure if it just worked in the moment or it'll hold up to a repeat viewing.
posted by octothorpe at 8:45 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 8:45 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
I saw it a couple times - made the girlfriend watch with me after a film savvy friend sat me down with it. Loved it both times. No, uh, other big observations really, apart from that I haven't really seen anything that reminded me of it since.
posted by mordax at 9:28 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by mordax at 9:28 PM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think I've seen it at least four times and I don't recall that my enjoyment greatly diminished. There were various things that I noticed on the later viewings -- not just with regard to the whole gimmick, but also nuances of the performances and direction and such.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:06 PM on February 27, 2016
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:06 PM on February 27, 2016
Interesting to see it was directed byTom Tykwer, who also directed Cloud Atlas, another favourite riddle movie of mine. I last watched it soon after it was release, and have a copy floating around somewhere. I remember just enough of it to make a rewatch after this time... interesting.
posted by arzakh at 2:55 AM on February 28, 2016
posted by arzakh at 2:55 AM on February 28, 2016
I watched it some months ago and it still holds up great. Stylewise it's a bit a product of the era, but it is brilliantly so.
It is also an example how a movie can have a strong, yet simple narrative concept without having to drag for two and an half hours.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:51 AM on February 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
It is also an example how a movie can have a strong, yet simple narrative concept without having to drag for two and an half hours.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:51 AM on February 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
Saw this in the theater when it came out and loved it. It's definitely one of those that I'm a little scared to see again since I'm not sure if it just worked in the moment or it'll hold up to a repeat viewing.
I saw it in the theater and loved it, but when I saw it again six months or so ago it was good but not such a standout. I love how kinetic the movie is, one of the best I have ever seen for that.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:58 AM on February 28, 2016
I saw it in the theater and loved it, but when I saw it again six months or so ago it was good but not such a standout. I love how kinetic the movie is, one of the best I have ever seen for that.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:58 AM on February 28, 2016
I love love love this film, as well as Der Krieger und die Kaiserin
Hear, hear. Two excellent films.
posted by homunculus at 9:29 AM on February 28, 2016
Hear, hear. Two excellent films.
posted by homunculus at 9:29 AM on February 28, 2016
Love this, love the soundtrack and am please that both still stand up well after all these years. What I love about it so much is that gloriously is a movie, meaning it uses various tools to create a simulated reality that becomes something you wish was real. Just a joyously stunning achievement.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:12 AM on February 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:12 AM on February 28, 2016 [6 favorites]
I love this movie. It's been a good five years or so since the last time I watched it, but the whole thing is baked into my head by now anyway. Lola's doofy boyfriend, the weird hints that the security guard who has the heart attack is Lola's biological dad, etc., etc. I'm not a gambling man in the least, but whenever I'm in a casino I have to sit at the roulette wheel for at least a couple of spins and put a chip on 20.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:43 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by tobascodagama at 12:43 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best video game movie ever made. Not that it's about a video game, but that it IS a video game.
posted by happyroach at 4:16 PM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 4:16 PM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]
Well apart from Edge of Tomorrow.
posted by Sebmojo at 5:33 PM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Sebmojo at 5:33 PM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Great soundtrack as well.
posted by Celsius1414 at 6:31 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Celsius1414 at 6:31 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Great soundtrack as well."
Tykwer directed two episodes of the Wachowski's Sense8, but while I recognized him just a little in both of them, what strikes me every episode is how much I recognize him in the theme song. (For those who don't know, he's as prolific in his music composition for the screen as in his writing/direction and, wow, is the soundtrack and writing and direction of Lola rennt a unified, organic package.)
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:16 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Tykwer directed two episodes of the Wachowski's Sense8, but while I recognized him just a little in both of them, what strikes me every episode is how much I recognize him in the theme song. (For those who don't know, he's as prolific in his music composition for the screen as in his writing/direction and, wow, is the soundtrack and writing and direction of Lola rennt a unified, organic package.)
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 9:16 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
For those of you who don't have kids, Phineas and Ferb's Run Candace Run bit is pretty gloriously evocative.
posted by Etrigan at 6:52 AM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 6:52 AM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Love this movie! LOVE(d?) the soundtrack! Very much of product of it's time though. But at the time it felt very fresh and good. I may even have learned some german watching it since I've seen the german original so many times! (with subtitles)
posted by coust at 10:19 AM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by coust at 10:19 AM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
This movie is still on my list of favorite movies. I listen to the soundtrack often. I still wish I could color my hair Lola red, but my boss wouldn't look too kindly on it.
posted by Lucinda at 10:47 AM on February 29, 2016
posted by Lucinda at 10:47 AM on February 29, 2016
I went to this movie on a first date with a guy who turned to me at the end and said, "What's in the bag?" He wasn't joking and that was also our last date. That was not the only reason but, it certainly was a reason.
posted by soelo at 11:03 AM on February 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by soelo at 11:03 AM on February 29, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh, I know this one. It's Marcellus Wallace's soul, right?
posted by tobascodagama at 12:42 PM on February 29, 2016
posted by tobascodagama at 12:42 PM on February 29, 2016
Having heard good things but no details about it, I started watching this movie in bed late one night. I sat bolt upright in shock at what turned out to be the end of the first iteration. It may be the closest I ever come to the shock Psycho audiences had regarding Janet Leigh's character. (I knew all about that movie before I ever saw it.) Of course, she never had two additional chances...
posted by pmurray63 at 1:27 PM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by pmurray63 at 1:27 PM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]
Such a great movie. And maybe under-heralded as a feminist movie?
posted by latkes at 8:43 PM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by latkes at 8:43 PM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Girl saves boy.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:21 PM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:21 PM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Die Tasche!
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:55 PM on March 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 12:55 PM on March 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Girl saves boy.
Only 67 percent of the time.
CLOSE THE RENNT GAP.
posted by Etrigan at 1:57 PM on March 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Only 67 percent of the time.
CLOSE THE RENNT GAP.
posted by Etrigan at 1:57 PM on March 1, 2016 [3 favorites]
Such a perfect movie. I remember everything about it, despite not having seen it in ten years.
It makes me sad to learn that the director went on to make Cloud Atlas, which is an irredeemable pile of garbage (though, given the source material, how could it not be?).
posted by 256 at 7:11 PM on March 1, 2016
It makes me sad to learn that the director went on to make Cloud Atlas, which is an irredeemable pile of garbage (though, given the source material, how could it not be?).
posted by 256 at 7:11 PM on March 1, 2016
i have watched this movie over 100 times easy. for a long time it was my anxiety calm down movie. i love it so much.
posted by nadawi at 8:04 PM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by nadawi at 8:04 PM on March 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Wow. That's impressive. I'm not even sure I've seen any movie more than ten times, though maybe a few of those they used to show once a year on TV. I've probably seen a fair number of movies between 5-10 -- I bet on multiple viewings, I peak at "5". But I doubt I've ever seen anything at all more than 20 times. So a hundred kind of blows my mind.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:26 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:26 PM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Of course, almost half my life and all of my childhood predates even VHS movies, so that kind of viewing has really been available to me only since about my very late twenties.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:39 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:39 PM on March 4, 2016
growing up we had a rack of orange label vhs tapes that would hold a couple movies and we'd watch them over and over and over again. my brothers and i would get into a mood and then it was something like rocky 1-4 on a continuous loop for a couple months straight, then we'd move on to something else, repeat. so there's a bunch of movies i've seen a really egregious number of times. when i moved out i continued this tradition with the blockbuster sidewalk sales when things felt fucked up, and things pretty much felt fucked up from 17-24. i was also an insomniac so watching movies i'd seen a bunch was like wrapping up in a big warm quilt.
posted by nadawi at 9:31 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by nadawi at 9:31 PM on March 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
I would really like to offer a nuanced cerebral take on this, but all I have on rewatch is: I would die for Franka Potente.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:03 PM on January 8, 2023
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:03 PM on January 8, 2023
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posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:04 PM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]