Year:
1998
Studio:
X-Filme Creative Pool
Movie:
3/5
DVD:
3/5
Movie
"Lola Rennt" is a German film that won some award at some festival.
It's a story about a girl, Lola (Franka Potente), who has twenty
minutes to come up with 100 000 Marks (about $60k) or her easily
panicked boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bieibtreu) is going to rob a
supermarket for the money. Unfortunately Lola's moped was stolen so she
has to run to her dad (who works at the German Transfer Bank) and then
run to her boyfriend.
But that's not what the movie is about. It's about how a small thing
can change things dramatically. We actually get three possible futures,
shown sequentially, of Lola doing her stuff and failing twice before
the third try works. There are three very peripheral characters that
Lola bumps into. We are shown (in quick flashes) a different possible
future for these three characters each time through.
It's mostly an action movie without big gunfights and explosions. It's
a race against time. And there's something about an athletic red-haired
young woman running a lot that gets my interest. But to me it comes off
as too much of a "here's a cool idea and let's try to make a movie
around it" feel. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a sterling
example of German cinema (I mean, the German films we like here may be
trashy films in Germany), but it had the feel of an indy one-trick film.
|
There's this
song, "Wish", that plays throughout the running scenes. "I
wish I was a hunter..." and a bunch of other things that Lola wishes (I
guess it's sort of a what's running through her head). For some reason
it's a hypnotic techno song and when you're wearing headphones and
listening to a woman whisper it in your ear it's damned sexy.
Actors
I had no problem with the actors. I was watching with the English
dubbing which is not quite exact and the voices are mostly ok but at
least I don't have to read a bunch of subtitles. When I see Potente
running so much I keep thinking about all the takes to shoot a scene
and feel a bit sorry for the girl.
DVD
The audio commentary with Writer/Director/Producer Tom Tykwer and
Franka Potente is interesting (and thank goddess it's in English).
There is a music video, "Believe", sung by Potente. Well, not so much
sung as she's not a singer. It's more of a poem with a techno beat.
Also on the DVD is the theatrical trailer and bios.
Recommendations
Fairly interesting movie and a good foreign film. Different enough that
I think it's worth taking a chance seeing, though I think lots of
people will be a bit bored. |