REVIEWS

"RUN LOLA RUN"

"Run Lola Run" is the perfect foreign film for people who aren't into foreign films. I think that most people are reluctant to sit through a foreign film because they're simply not into having to "read" the movie's dialogue (I'm speaking of subtitled foreign films... foreign films dubbed in English are an evil abomination from Satan pulled straight outta the deepest pits of hell), and then there's the inaccurate belief that foreign films are boring. Well, it's literally impossible to be bored during "Run Lola Run." It's wildly fast-paced, almost as though you're watching a movie in fast forward. And it helps that it's under 90 minutes long, there's nonstop eye candy, and there isn't a tremendous amount of dialogue. There are a few times where things slow down and it's pure dialogue as "Lola" and "Manni" lie in bed together and talk. They're really good scenes because of the "look", as well as the the fact that the dialogue is realistic in the way couples can get so touchy about how certain things are said to each other. The scenes also work because they give the viewer a chance to breathe.

Part of the reason for "Run Lola Run" being so good is the music. I don't really like techno that much, but "Run Lola Run" had techno music playing in the background almost the entire time, and it worked for me. Most of the music is by Tykwer/Klimek/Heil (the threesome is the movie's writer/director Tom Tykwer, techno producer John Klimek, and Rynhold Heil, who was the producer of the popular 80s German song "99 Luftballons" by Nena). The film's star, Franka Potente, lends her voice to much of the music. I wanna get the soundtrack. The music has been in my head for days!

You see a lot of "Lola" in the movie (I'm referring to screen time, not nudity), and for the movie to work, the actress who plays her must be perfect... and she is. Franka Potente plays the role with extreme gusto, though she doesn't have much of a choice considering how high her energy level needed to be throughout the movie. With her bright red hair and repeatedly exposed tattooed belly, her look alone makes her kinda nifty, but it's her overall performance that immediately places her at the top of the totem pole of cinematic coolness. The guy who plays her boyfriend "Manni" (the "damsel in distress," if you will) is played by Moritz Bleibtreu. He played the character perfectly.

The subtitles sucked, by the way. There were quite a few times where the white subtitles were placed in a shot where the background was white, leaving the subtitles very difficult to decipher. The subtitles in foreign films should be yellow, or at least white with a black outline.

"Run Lola Run" was written and directed by Tom Tykwer, and prior to this film, he made "Winter Sleeper" (or "Wintersleepers") and "Deadly Maria," two German films I've never heard of, but I definitely wanna see. Hopefully they're available on video or something. His style is the kind that American audiences of the MTV Generation would probably enjoy, so maybe he'll direct an American movie soon. "Run Lola Run" hasn't exactly gone unnoticed by the Hollywood studios, so it IS possible.

Look, it comes down to this: "Run Lola Run" is not the perfect movie, but it kicks ass, so go see it, okay?

Scale of 1-10: 9