Review: Run Lola Run
Having just recently been on holiday to Berlin, and being a huge fan of German films such as Goodbye Lenin (as recently reviewed on this blog), I thought it was time to finally watch this critically acclaimed German cult hit. The film, first released in 1998, stars flamen-haired (at least for this movie) Franke Potente who has since gone on to be quite a well-known actress in both German and English language films, such as The Bourne Supremacy and Blow, not that I've actually seen either of those, but her role in Run Lola Run (or 'Lola rennt' as it was originally titled) has certainly made her name in Hollywood.
When I started watching the film I was extremely confused as the characters were all speaking English in painful London accents, then I noticed the words were out of synch with their mouths and luckily found a way to turn the very distracting dubbed English off so I could just have subtitles. The film itself is quite confusing to begin with as Lola sets off on her task (finding 100,000 Deutschmarks to save her drug-dealing boyfriend from being killed by the man he owes it to) which is supposed to take 20 minutes but after about 10 minutes in real time the 20 minutes in film time are up and I can't help but wonder what the hour or so left of the film is going to be about, especially since the main character is now dead! However, my confusion is soon quelled as we are taken back to the beginning of the story for an alternate version, and this is repeated a few more times until we finally learn of Lola and her boyfriend's fate.
I have to admit I was slightly disappointed by this film, after hearing so many recommendations for it and having loved most of the German films I'd seen previously. It wasn't a bad film exactly, but I didn't really find it very exciting and with the constant returns to the beginning I found myself not particularly caring about the ending. I didn't find Lola a particularly likeable character and her boyfriend didn't really seem worth all her trouble. I'm glad I saw the film just to have seen it, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it or bother to watch it again.
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