'Run Lola Run'

'Run Lola Run', directed by Tom Tykwer 1998, is a German film which focuses on 20 crucial minutes of the lives of two people; Lola and her boyfirend Manni, who carelessly lost a large amount of money which he owes to a dangerous man. The narrative explores the constant "what if''s" that occur, and also the events that fate controls which can easily be altered through the slightest changes. It takes the audience on three different journeys with the character Lola, each time with slightly different events taking place - all of which are completely down to fate.

This film uses effective techniques to tell the story of the characters lives; for example, in the first of the three run throughs when Lola bumps into the lady with the pram, there are photo snapshots used to show what happens in her life after this happens (her baby is taken away from her by social services and she steals someone elses in a park); then on the second run through, Lola apologises and the future of the woman has changed - again shown through photo snapshots (she wins the lottery). This happens with more than one character, like the man on the bike who plays a very important role in the final outcome of the journey - the homeless man takes his bike and Manni is able to catch him and get the money back.
Another effective technique used in the film is the use of the flashbacks - for example, repeating Lola's journey three times just with slightly different events; and when Lola/Manni dies there is a flashback to them being in bed questioning each other about their love for one another. These particular flashbacks are quite important as they helped link the stories together for me (they didn't want to die, it seemed as if they wanted to fight to stay alive for each other).
I think its clever how the stories of all the characters seen in the film link together in some way, and how the slightest change in events can lead to such different and serious consequences. The use of the split screen was interesting as it meant the audience could see what was happening in both of the characters lives.

On the other hand, the repetition at the beginning of each run through was quite boring by the end, the cartoon bit when Lola runs down the stairs and past the dog could have been shortened as we'd already seen the running down the staircase before. Also, the ending was kind of abrupt and unexpected. I didn't think it would be all happy, I thought somebody might have got hurt - I was half expecting the homeless man to show up with the gun somwhere, I thought Manni giving him the gun was goinmg to be a significant part of the narrative.

Overall I really enjoyed the film, It's not something I'd usually watch but it was different and interesting. For a foreign film i thought it was good and I might watch it again.