Run Lola Run

One of the most successful German movies

Hi fellow film lovers! Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, I was incredibly busy with work and uni stuff. But it’s getting better now, so today I’d like to introduce you to one of the best German films: Run Lola Run (original title: Lola rennt).
I’m sure that many of you have heard of this one before, as it was really successful and is probably still known as the German classic. It was written and directed by Tom Tykwer and hit the screens in 1998. The protagonists Lola and Manni are played by Franka Potente and Moritz Bleibtreu.

The story centres around Lola, whose boyfriend Manni works as a receiver of stolen goods and accidentally leaves 100.000 Deutsche Mark (the old currency of Germany before the Euro) in the subway. While a homeless guy finds the money, Manni has only twenty minutes left before the meeting with his boss, who’s gonna kill him if he arrives without the prey. Panicking, he calls Lola who tells him to stay calm and rushes to ask her bank manager father for help.
Following this introduction, the main part of the movie begins, and this is where it gets special. The movie now shows us three different possibilities how the story could develop. Each time the starting point is the same: Lola is seen running down the stairs of her apartment building. Once she’s hit the streets of Berlin, still running of course, things turn out differently three times and we get to see in what way Lola’s referring actions influence the lives of the people she interacts with.
There are certain characters like a blind woman who’s featured in all three of Lola’s runs and hints acted out by the protagonists that suggest a certain “supernatural” knowledge of all three alternative realities. They connect the actions and leave the audience guessing which one is real or if they’re all real or if maybe none of them is real after all and it is all Lola’s imagination. This really makes the film interesting and gives it this “specialness”. Also, it questions how important the decisions we make are after all, as it shows that they don’t only affect our own lives, but can also drastically influence other people’s lives as well.
As I don’t want to spoil the experience for those of you who haven’t seen the movie, I won’t tell you the ending and what exactly happens in the three plotlines. 😉

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The movie received numerous awards, as for example the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics, Best Film at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival and seven prizes at (mostly) major German Film Awards.
Run Lola Run was adopted in many other films and shows. To name a few:

– the Simpsons episode “Trilogy of Errors” parodies the film
– the Scrubs episode “My bright idea” features the title song of the movie, when the caretaker makes a 100m sprint towards JD
– the comedy And then came Lola (2009) is a lesbian remake of the movie
– Bon Jovi’s music video to “It’s my Life” was inspired by Run Lola Run
– the movie was the inspiration to the three day cycle in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, released in 2000

If you haven’t seen the movie, I encourage you to do so. It is really gripping to watch and the soundtrack is awesome! If you’re not from Germany: do you know any other German movies? Have you watched some? Let me know in the comments! 🙂

All pictures used are copyrighted by Prokino Filmverleih and Sony Pictures Classics!