Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2256 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-04-10
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, German, Japanese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 77 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's difficult to create a film that's fast paced, exciting and aesthetically appealing without diluting its dialogue. Run Lola Run, directed and written by Tom Tykwer, is an enchanting balance of pace and narrative, creating a universal parable that leaps over cultural barriers. This is the story of young Lola (Franka Potente) and her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). In the space of 20 minutes, they must come up with 100,000 deutsche marks to pay back a seedy gangster, who will be less than forgiving when he finds out that Manni incompetently lost his cash to an opportunistic vagrant. Lola, confronted with one obstacle after another, rides an emotional roller coaster in her high-speed efforts to help the hapless Manni--attempting to extract the cash first from her double-dealing father (appropriately a bank manager), and then by any means necessary. From this point nothing goes right for either protagonist, but just when you think you've figured out the movie, the director introduces a series of brilliant existential twists that boggle the mind. Tykwer uses rapid camera movements and innovative pauses to explore the theme of cause and effect. Accompanied by a pulse-pounding soundtrack, we follow Lola through every turn and every heartbreak as she and Manni rush forward on a collision course with fate. There were a variety of original and intelligent films released in 1999, but perhaps none were as witty and clever as this little gem--one of the best foreign films of the year. --Jeremy Storey, Amazon.com

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
16:9 Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
German
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English German
Dolby Digital 5.1
Original Theatrical Trailer
Filmographies
Commentary
Music Video
English

Synopsis
Set against the gritty urban scenescape of Berlin and a pounding techno soundtrack, RUN LOLA RUN is a frenetic, inventive existential thriller that explores the life-altering impact of seemingly inconsequential actions. Beautiful, hip, and young, poor Lola has but 20 minutes to locate a missing bag containing 100,000 Deutsche marks or come up with the money some other way--if she can't, gangsters are going to kill her boyfriend. A pulse-raising race against time, the film employs a startling array of innovative techniques to present three separate scenarios, all departing from a single split-second decision Lola makes. Franka Patente, who also sings on the soundtrack, is mesmerizing as Lola.

Customer Reviews

Time enough for love
This film may have had a tad of art to it but for the most part it looked like a practice RUN for "Groundhog Day." I appreciate the differences but there is nothing unique about this movie. The only pleasure is comparing this to the hundreds of other similar movies ("Déjà Vu", "Sticky Fingers of Time", "Happy Accidents", etc.)

The story is very basic; boyfriend loses mob money to bum on subway. Girlfriend (Franka Potente quite hansom if you discount the red hair) frantic to help must RUN to his rescuer obtaining 100,000 Deutschmarks (pre-Euro 2002) on the way. We are treated to several versions and there could have been more.

-----------------------------------------------
This film lends its self well to Blu-ray. And there are a few DVD extras worth watching. Unfortunately they spoke to fast to interpret so I needed the English subtitles. I would have preferred German subtitles then I may have been able to keep up. There is an English soundtrack but much is lost in the translation.

A kick-ass, original, indie thriller..!
I first saw this late one night on Channel 4, and immediately realised i was seeing an incredibly original, quirky, intelligent thriller, of the kind that had - to my mind - been absent since the early '90's heyday of Man Bites Dog, True Romance and Reservoir Dogs.
I won't go into the plot, as it'll spoil it, but suffice to say, it keeps you gripped to the end. ( People who are currently reading about certain branches of Quantum Physics may want to take a look ).
Of course, this is the film which kick-started Franka Potente's career, and she makes a truly engaging heroine here. In fact, you could say that this film has overshadowed her career so far, and not even great lead roles in The Bourne Identity and indie chiller Creep have eclipsed the fiery Lola in this movie.
For the price listed here, I'm even tempted to buy it all over again just to dish out to my mates. An absolute bargain.

20 minutes for love
A T.S. Eliot quote. A swinging pendulum and spinning hands on a monstrous clock. Countless faded figures moving quickly by.

And in the center of the crush, a man in a cop uniform says (in German), "The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. That's a fact. Everything else is pure theory." He kicks it into the sky.

Well, Tom Tykwer certainly knows how to get our attention. And it's only a few minutes in the kinetic, high-octane, colourful world of "Run Lola Run" -- a wild action/romance that studies the ripple effect of our lives, and the changes we can make in the name of love.

Lola (Franka Potente) receives a call from her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a drug courier. Because Lola's moped was stolen, Manni had to take the subway home -- and he accidentally left behind a bag of money. Now he has twenty minutes to somehow get 100,000 marks, or his boss Ronnie is going to kill him.

Lola races across Berlin to her father's bank -- only to find him with his mistress, and hear that he's leaving his other family. Desperate, she runs to where Manni is waiting, and helps him rob a convenience store. But as they flee, the police catch up to them -- and Lola is shot.

"But I don't want to. I don't want to leave," she mutters. And time rewinds to where she left her apartment -- and this time, Lola's determined to do things differently. As she runs from one end of Berlin to another, she sends ripples through the lives of those she passes -- and she'll keep running until she finds a hundred thousand marks to save herself and Manni.

"Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt)" was what propelled Tom Tykwer to international fame. And given that his other movies tend to be slower and more dreamlike -- though no less striking visually -- this movie is striking not only for its speed, but the sweet romance and the lesson about the old "butterfly's wings" adage. (Also see: "Happenstance")

Admittedly, a woman running through Berlin is not terribly interesting in itself. But the world of Lola is filled with brilliant rave colours -- Lola's blazing red hair, colourful room, the sights of Berlin -- and her race against the clock is punctuated by little vignettes of the future lives of various people she bumps into. That momentary contact is enough to change their lives -- sometimes for better, or worse.

And Tykwer's style is a spicy mix -- arty shots (going through a clock mouth or an apartment building?), German techno, cartoon interludes with an animated Lola running for it, Lola changing reality with her screeches, and the snapshots of people's futures, seen only for a second -- but very revealing. Not to mention the equally colourful, MTVesque cartoons of Lola running down stairs, evading dogs, et cetera.

But even aside from Tykwer's artistic flair, it's a great movie -- the atmosphere is painful and taut during the scenes in the bank, including Lola's robbery. And periodically, we see some sweet red-tinted interludes of Manni and Lola in bed, discussing their feelings for each other. They're little oases of calm and love, in the middle of all the running.

Franka Potente does a solid job as Lola, an ordinary punky girl who loves Manni more than anything, and must find the RIGHT way out of their shared dilemma. She gets some nasty surprises from her uptight, adulterous dad, though. And Bleibtreu does magnificently as Manni, who is overcome with fear, frustration and anguish because he knows that his boss is going to kill him.

"Run Lola Run" is a kinetic, vibrant, and a romantic little look at how a moment can change your life. Everything else is pure theory.