Run Lola Run
With Starbucks transitioning to pumpkin spice lattes and Halloween costumes out on the first floor of TJ Maxx, you may be looking for a calm movie. If this is the case, might I not recommend Run Lola Run: a 1999 hit directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Franka Potente. Rather than offering a cozy fix for the autumnal blues, the film throws its audience into an anxiety-riddled rendition of Groundhog Day. While not comforting, Run Lola Run is endlessly entertaining.
The film follows protagonist Lola through a medley of flashbacks, alternate realities, and action scenes scattered throughout the streets of Berlin. With a shaggy bob dyed bright red and hands decorated with silver rings, she indulges herself in piercing screams and frequent crashouts—all immensely warranted. Run Lola Run opens with a call from Lola’s boyfriend Mannie in which he claims he needs 100,000 Deutsche marcs in 20 minutes. He’s already given up: it’s impossible, and this is the end. Lola doesn't fall victim to this surrender for even a second.
Lola spends the remaining hour and ten minutes of the movie sprinting through Berlin, soundtracked by a wide range of German techno. As I watched her jump through glass, push through herds of nuns, and catch a ride on an ambulance, Lola captivated me. I sat glued to the screen, not just to read the subtitles, but to take in the stunning visuals and breakneck pacing. With the camera shooting back and forth, shaking in an early 2000s manner and zooming in intimately, the cinematography leaves the audience reeling from whiplash. Animation also intersperses the shots, portraying Lola bounding down stairs in a seemingly endless spiral.
Like this staircase, Run Lola Run feels like a never-ending journey. However, the audience would never wish for its end. The richly colorful and deeply creative film succeeds not only in entertaining viewers but in offering them insight into the darkest and most daunting aspects of human experience. Despite its short runtime, I found myself questioning fate, mortality, and whether I, too, should put on some techno and start sprinting.
Josi is a freshman in the SFS, who is using The INDY as an excuse to rewatch her favorite movies.
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