Categories this film falls into:

Action
Experimental
Foreign - Germany
Just a Damn Fine Film
Thriller / Suspense

run lola run (1998)

Lola has 20 minutes to find 100,000 marks.

This film is brilliant. Fast-paced.
Energetic. Fascinatingly original. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Tom Tykwer's organization of this film rocks. The first 20 minutes are spent laying out the plot - Lola's boyfriend lost the 100,000 marks needed to pay off the gangster guy he works for and he has 20 minutes to find the cash. The rest of the film is divided into 3 different explorations of how the plot could end. It's magnificent. The colors, Lola's hair, the music, the filming - all of it adds up beautifully.

It's heartpounding emotion and music that drive this film along. You're in Lola and Manni's world - when the story has them in it, it's filmed in 35 mm. When you see other people (like Lola's dad and his mistress), it's filmed on video. This is such a cool thing to do. Without even realizing it, you automatically separate the two in your head because they look different. It's fantastic filmmaking. I loved every minute of it.

THINGS I LOVE

Quotes at the beginning by T. S. Elliot and Herberger. They fit perfectly.
The music. Fabulous blood-pumping rave sound. And I don't even like rave music. It fits in so well with the film and actually helps propel it forward. Fantastic. You can't help but sit forward a little in your seat, trying to help the music push the action along.
The animation segments. Very cool. Very well placed.
The opening credits with the pictures, character names and cast members. I love it when films do that. And then, the arial dropdown shot to go into Lola's room to the phone. Fabulous.
The "and then" sequences. Tom Tykwer has to be a genius. These segments are fantastic - turning the people you meet on the street into real people who live actual lives that we will never know anything about.

FAVORITE MOMENTS

The framing of the pullaway shot of Lola holding her Dad at gunpoint in the glass booth. It's great.
The scenes in bed talking about love and death. It's great stuff. I can imagine those conversations that to one seem so incredibly important and to the other seem pointless.
The glass being carried across the street. Fantastic.
The twist the second time Lola's dad and his mistress are talking about the baby. It's amazing how just a little more time can change an entire situation. It's so well done and so subtle. Tiny, subtle changes.

QUOTES

The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. That's a fact. Everything else is pure theory. - Security Guard
What's in the bag? - Manni