Deutschland 1998 (Lola rennt)
Director: Tom Tykwer Actors: Moritz Bleibtreu, Franka Potente
The petty criminal Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) has a huge problem: For his boss he was supposed to smuggle diamonds and deliver the 100,000 DM he had received for this at 12 noon. On the way to the meeting point, however, he has to hurry out of the subway because he has no ticket and the inspectors are nearby. Unfortunately, he forgets his bag in the car during this flight: The content: The 100,000 DM he has to deliver. He sees a bum (Joachim Krol) taking the bag as the subway already continues its journey - with the money. Desperately Manni waits at the agreed meeting point and calls his girlfriend Lola (Franka Potente) to help him. If he doesn't have the money by 12 noon, he wants to rob a nearby supermarket, because without the 100.00 DM he is almost dead. It's 11:40, so it's only 20 minutes. His girlfriend Lola doesn't have a plan yet, but wants to do everything he can to help Manni. So she hangs up the phone and runs off....
Lola, stop right there! Unfortunately, the film went completely wrong. It's a pity, because this topic, the original and unspent idea in itself, could have been turned into something more. It is really something new to tell one and the same story three times in a row in slightly modified form. Lola runs out of her apartment and meets a neighbour and his dog. Depending on how it gets past him, the subsequent course of the story changes completely. The story is told three times according to the principle "When a butterfly in China flaps its wings with a hurricane in America". Only small things change superficially, but the further curriculum vitae of certain persons change enormously. So you can see that this film is certainly not a "mainstream film", but due to the original idea it is very promising. Unfortunately, the implementation of this topic has not been very successful. From the very first minute you ask yourself: Am I in the cinema or do I watch a music video? Far too fast cuts, confusing camera shots and far too many effects that seem to be out of place spoil the fun of this film. Why is the key scene (Lola runs past the neighbour) shown as a cheap cartoon? 360-degree camera movements are all well and good, but only if they are not continuously used in the wrong places. These are just two of the many examples. The worst is the annoying backround music. Whenever Lola runs, you always have to listen to the same, much too loud, monotonous and unimaginative music. While the director is throwing effects around himself, he didn't come up with much on a musical level. To me, this film seems like an experiment. As many technical gimmicks as possible are mixed together with the result: experiment failed! No film is better suited to the phrase "less would have been more" than' Lola rennt'. The film isn't really bad at all and the idea of telling a story three times slightly modified sounds promising. Unfortunately, these good approaches were not suffocated in the No. But you have to be supportive of the film, despite everything that you have at least once dared to leave old, trampled film paths and try something new. Even a certain creativity cannot be denied to the director, although he exaggerates too much. Hopefully, despite this mistake, we will continue to try something else, but then please do it with more success. Because as I said before: Lola rennt could have been a very good movie from the beginning.
In short: A promising topic and idea was poorly implemented, which is why the film can only be considered mediocre at best.
A movie review by Jörn
