Run Lola Run (1999)

Overrated

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This is a brilliant film. Tons of great action and suspense, a real thriller that isn't so much about scaring the audience as just keeping them on the edge of their seats. It also has lots of great comedic moments as well. It's like Groundhog's Day meets Frantic or Sliding Doors... hard to describe but totally unique and will keep your attention.

The story isn't well explained. Why exactly do these gangsters for her boyfriend to give them the $100,000? There's no real explanation. Nor is there an explanation why he didn't tell Lola sooner. There are two ways this movie could have gone, story wise, but it didn't go in either direction: 1. The whole movie could have been told in a single point of view without being divided up by three possibilities with the point of view being, of course, Lola's. This way it would be less predictable by the second or third act of the movie. 2. Another possibility is if the writers go with the multiple scenarios, but not just through Lola's eyes. For example: The first act could work just fine as it is, but the second act could focus on what her boyfriend is doing the whole time Lola is running to him when she isn't on camera. Then a third point of view could be what her parents are going through at the same second the first and second acts of the film take place. This way, it won't repeat the same thing almost exactly the same way. A much better movie that deals with different possibilities like this is Rashomon. In that one, it's the same story told from different characters. No necessarily repeating the same story with a slightly different ending.

The editing and pacing of this movie kept you interested and often intrigued by its strangeness. I particularly enjoyed the red phone interspersed with the red bag as they both fell to the ground. Great performances by the two main lovers. The action is simple, yet very effective. Often the filmmaker seems excessively showing off (the entire cartoon sequence felt unnecessary). Incredibly enjoyable and enough to ponder on. I loved the slight differences between the three runs. As the movie got more and more invested in the outcome, the coincidences and run-ins that Lola endured became wonderful to behold. It felt intelligent and exciting at the same time.

A young woman (Franka Potente) in Germany has twenty minutes to find and bring 100,000 Deutschmarks to her boyfriend before he robs a supermarket.When this film first came out (1998) it was an instant international hit, and revisiting it now (2015) it retains everything it had then. The pulse-pumping music, the multiple choice endings, the "what if" scenarios... fun, fast-paced, exciting and both visually and aurally in high gear.Many films of the 1990s were iconic, and most tended to be nihilistic or dark. This is an exception, being largely upbeat even when the situation is completely hopeless. Should be required viewing.