Run Lola Run (original German title Lola rennt, which translates to Lola Runs) is a 1998 film by German
screenwriter and director Tom Tykwer, starring Franka Potente as Lola.
Lola's boyfriend, Manni, is involved in a smuggling operation. Manni's final task in a particular job is to transport 100,000 marks to his boss Ronnie. Lola is supposed to drive Manni to the meeting, but her moped has been stolen. Manni resorts to public transportation when Lola does not appear, Manni places a frantic phone call to Lola and explains the situation: he will certainly be killed if he does not have the money when he meets Ronnie at noon. Lola vows to somehow obtain 100,000 marks and get to Manni in the twenty minutes she has. Manni states he
will rob a supermarket on the street corner for the money if Lola has not come by then. It is at this point that the alternative-realities sequence begins.
When we meet Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a small time courier for big time gangster, he is working a standard pick-up/drop-off, and everything is going just fine.
When the job is done, all he has to do is wait for his girlfriend, the orange-haired punk girl Lola (Franka Potente), to pick him up. But today is unlike any other day. Due to an incident while she was buying a pack of cigarettes, Lola is late, and Lola is never late. One stroke of bad luck leads to another, and by the time
Manni calls Lola, he is at a pay phone with a big, big, big problem. His unforgiving boss will meet him in twenty minutes to pick up 100,000 marks; money that Manni, suddenly, does not have.Lola rushes out of her apartment and down the street, attempting to get to Manni and, somehow, pick up 100,000 marks on the way. She tears through the city, in a whirl of bums, nuns, babies and guns. Down sidewalks, into
offices, through traffic and back again. As her feet slap the pavement and the seconds tick
Run Lola Run is an unconventional, nonlinear film. The script follows a spiral structure. Spirals are also frequently used as a visual motif, partially as homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, which Tykwer has acknowledged. The film, particularly with its time limit and "multiple lives" concept, also owes a clear debt to Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, who explored the theme in films such as Blind Chance, The Double Life of Véronique, and Three Colors: Red.
The movie itself begins by posing questions pertaining
to the unpredictability of the world and the unknowable nature of its meaning. It suggests that drastically disparate consequences can result to many different
people from a one second change in the time of one person's running.
The soundtrack of the film, also by Tykwer, includes numerous musical quotations of the sustained string
chords of "The Unanswered Question". The "Unanswered Question" is an early 20th-century chamber ensemble
work by United States composer Charles Ives. In the original work, the chords are meant to represent the
music of the spheres. The song "I Wish" (sung by Potente) expresses the prediction of such event by altering mood and atmosphere. In the first, the music is played in the wake of alertness; the second displays danger. The third is upbeat with additional lyrics such as Never Say Never suggesting an opportunity of hope. Moreover, the third music explains Lola's true emotions and struggles. It also metaphorically explains her desire towards the upcoming present and future.
Run Lola Run's Awards Won:
• Best Production (Bavarian Film Award)
• Audience Award (Sundance Film Festival)
• Outstanding Feature Film
and 6 other Awards
(German Film Awards)
• Actress Franka Potente (Bambi Award)
• Best Cinematography (Chlotrudis Award)
• Best Foreign Film (DallasFWFCA Award)
• Director Tom Tykwer (Ernst Lubitsch Award)
• Best Foreign Film (Independent Spirit Award)
• Best Foreign Language Film
(SEFCA Award)
• Best Film (Seattle International Film Festival)
