Director:- Tom Tykwer
The year is 1998. Day-Glo t-shirts adorn high street windows. B*Witched rule the charts. Go to Germany and you will find that Tom Tykwer is hotly tipped to become the next darling of World Cinema as he basks in the glory of his latest release, Run Lola Run. This film eventually made $7 million at the US box office alone. It was the most successful German film of 1998. Strangely enough however, Tykwer has arguably failed to capitalise upon this early success. His Hollywood debut came in the form of The International starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts which received a lukewarm reception from both critics and the public alike. But forget his mainstream work and focus on Run Lola Run. A true tour de force of cinematography.
The story is simple enough. Lola, played with aplomb by the stark flame haired Franka Potente, latterly a star opposite Matt Damon in the Bourne Identity, has twenty minutes to find 100,000 Deutschmarks in order to save her boyfriend (Moritz Bleibtreu) from certain death at the hands of his crimelord bosses. Upon this simple premise however, Tykwer sends us upon a rollercoaster journey. We see the same twenty minute story told three times, each being completely different due to different decisions taken seconds apart.
For a film that lasts a mere 80 minutes, Tykwer throws in particularly every cinematic trick known to man. We are plunged into monochrome, we see Lola descending a large flight of stairs suddenly in cartoon form. Passers-by Lola sees on her journey have their lives played out in an intensely cool snapshot form- their lives changing on each twenty minute excerpt. If you view the trailer, the film has the tagline, "Every second of every day, we make choices that can change your life". Well Tykwer certainly stands by these watchwords. Following the first twenty minute sequence, I felt a little intrigued at what would happen next, but really felt the next part would be tedious. How wrong I was. I love that Tykwer has created a filming masterpiece, throwing every trick into the mix, but I really loved how he has a message for the viewer in that the choices we make really can change our lives, be that for better or worse.
Sadly though, despite promotion of foreign language films, many people in Britain are dissuaded by the prospect of subtitles. My message is simple. Just try one of these films, if you don't like it, don't watch anymore. However my guess is that once you've watched one, you'll be hooked- I hope so because there is a rich vein of films just waiting to be discovered.
IMBD.com Rating:- 7.8 from 138,865 votes
Supermegahybrid Film Rating:- 4 star
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