Edition #7
Rio de Janeiro, 2004
You know those movies that you like right away, in the first scene, you fall in love with it and want to watch it over and over again? And then you still want to see the making of, learn about the lives of the actors, the director, in short, movies that make you become a fan? Well, Run Lola Run is one of those, at least for me. I liked the movie so much that when I went to Berlin I went on a cinematic tour visiting the front of the building where Lola lived... The movie got me so much that here I am, dedicating a text to it.
TAGS: cinema, music, underground, videos
“DKANDLE weaves swirling multi-colored vibrant unearthly soundscapes, blending fuzzy and reverberating Shoegaze textures, mesmerizing Dream Pop meditations, sludgy Grungey tones and moody Post-punk strains, heightened with soul-stirring lyricism and pensive emotive vocalizations”
The plot of "Run Lola Run" is basically a philosophical exploration of time and destiny. Each action has a meaning, and every second counts. The best message that the film conveys is that every move, every decision we make will have repercussions on everything in our lives, one way or another.
Another appealing component of the film is its connection to the story of "Trainspotting," which involves underground European characters being transformed into a kind of heroes. These are films that take drugged, addicted, and trafficker guys, and you root for them! Politically incorrect?...
Ultimately, these films simply treat the characters as victims of an unresolved society, of poorly married parents, of an unjust system, of a senseless life. That's why you feel empathy and root for them.
"Run Lola Run" mixes elements of animation with rapid photographic sequences. The film was made in 1999 and is set in Berlin; it is entirely spoken in German. The director, Tom Tykwer, also created the story and even wrote the wonderful techno soundtrack! The guy is really talented, by the way. He managed to create a truly alternative and interesting film that breaks away from the boring and conventional Hollywood productions, coming out as super original!
Hollywood cinema is based on a square, closed, and unadventurous formula. There are exceptions, of course - Quentin Tarantino, for example, is a daring guy, but still, he uses a commercial/industrial formula that works and that no one thinks of changing, at least in Hollywood. And our American-wannabe society bought into the idea that good cinema is the one that uses the Hollywood formula.
For example, NET launched five exclusive channels with "the greatest hits of Hollywood." Well, for some people, these so-called Hollywood hits are pure garbage! So why don't they offer alternatives for these people? Is there only American cinema? Many people don't even know that India and Iran produce many films. You go to Netflix's catalog, and I don't know, 95% of the films are American. There's something wrong and biased about that.
The director of "Run Lola Run" had the freedom to use everything he wanted to express his idea, not limiting himself to an established formula, and that's the great differential of this film. A good film must use whatever it wants to convey its idea; it's not confined to established formulas but invents new ones. "Run Lola Run" is one of the films that best expresses the variety of styles seen on screen in recent decades. What do I mean by this? I mean that the film used languages used outside of cinema, such as those of music videos, advertising, animation, video games, photojournalism. It's one of the most avant-garde films in the history of cinema precisely because it had the audacity to use contemporary languages of visual media, not just the language of cinema.
People from the era of cable TV, the internet, who are plugged in all the time, who live in front of the screen—these are the people who will best digest the film because of their proximity to its reality, their everyday life. Older people, from before the era of music videos, etc., may not identify as much.
"Run Lola Run" is an inexpensive film with an intelligent story that touches on the taboo of time, willpower, thought, destiny. It's a race against the clock, a mix of destinies, a kind of time machine, like: living is a game and you can win it—it just depends on you.
I'll finish with the inevitable cliché: Run to watch it! 😊
So, what did you think
of the movie?
Tell us in the comments below
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