Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run
Cast: Franky Potente
Studio: Sony
Rating: 9/10

If the world were a just and civilized place, Run Lola Run would be the top grossing movie of the summer, and The Phantom Menace would languish in obscurity, lucky to recoup it’s advertising budget. Reality is a different place, however. Summer releases include the likes of the embarrassing Big Daddy and the unbelievably bad The Haunting. Don’t get me started. But Run Lola Run is like an electric jolt to the blob of brain matter nestled complacently in your head.

The story is simple: Lola (Franka Potente) must come up with one hundred thousand deutsche marks in twenty minutes or her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtrau) will suffer unpleasant nastiness at the hands of a local thug. Through cinematic license, she’s given three chances to get it right. Propelled by a soundtrack of perpetually driving techno music, the movie hits the ground running, literally, and doesn’t stop. Suspense, humor, romance, Run Lola Run is a movie made for people who love movies. Unfortunately, it won’t be seen by all of them.

The reason? It’s in German with subtitles, and that equals box office doom in the United States. I know a lot of foreign films are self-important and dull, but far too many people immediately rule out internationally made movies when they realize they’ll have to read while viewing. It’s a sad form of illiteracy, if you ask me. Surely American audiences can’t be so arrogant as to think this is the only country that makes good movies. After all, someone here made Lake Placid.

My point here is not to trash American audiences. The point is to praise Run Lola Run. Franka Potente is a very appealing performer. It’s impossible to take your eyes off her. She’s in charge, not just of the relationships in her life, but of the movie in general. Moritz Bleibtrau is great as the rather dim Manni. He places his trust and, basically, his life in Lola’s hands, and the sense of urgency gets pretty thick. Written and directed by Tom Tykwer, Run Lola Run was a big hit in Germany and deserves nothing less here. Perhaps the planets will align and people will flock to see it. Or maybe not. Regardless of how much money it makes, this is a blockbuster.

+ David Kern


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.