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Suparn Verma

Have you ever wondered 'what if'?

What if I had stayed on longer? What if I had left earlier? What if I had not gone at all? Would life have been different? And if different, how different?

There are countless 'what ifs' that make us wonder about what could have been in place of what is here and now.

This is the principle Run Lola Run works on.

Still confused?

Let me explain with an example.

You get up in the morning, follow your usual perfunctory routine, have breakfast, say your good byes, get into your car to get to work.

But what if, as you were reaching your car, you realised your shoelace was untied. So, you lost a minute while bending over to tie it. And maybe, because of this delay your life changes forever.

You hit and kill a pedestrian, which you may not have done had you not been delayed because maybe he wouldn't have been there at that particular time and place then.

It a school of thought similar to that in the films Sliding Doors (1998) or Groundhog Day (1993).

In the German thriller Run Lola Run, Lola (Franka Potente) has 20 minutes to get 100,000 marks and rescue her inept boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) from gangsters at a designated phone booth.

Writer-director Tykwer brilliantly sketches out the idea of a small event fundamentally changing our lives for better or for worse. We see the future lives of certain characters Lola bumps into, in all the three variations of the story, by means of photographs shown in a sequence.

Yet one story remains unchanging and its telling affects the end of the film. This is the story of Lola's father and his mistress having a close-door conversation.

Saying anything more will take away from the fun, but I have to say this: The cause and effect used in this film is simply astounding!

In Run Lola Run, Tykwer has made a music video that lasts 80 minutes. The film is as fast as a car on a racetrack and its style takes it to a different level. The techno music used in the movie is as vibrant as the red-haired Lola running through the streets of Germany.

The movie combines excellent camera work and editing, and is interspersed with cartoons to give it the very 'pop' quality it needs.

You may not get close to any of the characters except for Lola, brilliantly essayed by Potente, who is literally running for three-fourths of the film.

Run Lola Run was a big hit in Germany and went on to become a cult movie across the world.

It is a movie definitely worth viewing though I just have one question...why did Lola have to run?

I mean, she could have taken a cab!

Official film website

Credits:
Cast: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Joachim Krol, Nina Petri
Writer/ Director: Tom Tykwer
Producer: Stefan Arndt
Cinematographer: Frank Griebe
Editor: Mathilde Bonnefoy