Run Lola Run – Makes Me Feel Stupid

How does it feel when you watch a movie which is 1 hour long, but it feels like it has been going on forever. The feeling of being really stupid and the fact that everyone including someone like Sajid Khan is in your nightmare and is laughing at you. My brother whose favorite movies are Don No.1 and Meri Jung asks me what was this Run Lola Run about and I don’t have any concrete answer and he looks and then laughs out pointing his finger at me as if he has caught me watching gay porn. I din’t get proper sleep that night just imagining the fact that I have not understood a movie and trust me nothing can hamper my sleep not even the board exams and the fact that Shah Rukh Khan was playing a super hero. It’s not like I am not used to this kind of movies one of favorite movie of all time is Memento. But seriously, Run Lola Run is overrated for me.

First things first- apart from the main plot of the film which is to get the money to her boyfriend which he has lost, everything else is half-cooked. The characters that she meets and situations that she gets into between her runs are just not adding up to the main plot .The reason I say that is because of the fact that she has strained relationship with her father but it has nothing to do with the fact that she has to get the money to her boy friend.  The explanation is mostly left to the audience to decide and unfortunately assume. I am all up and raring to go when it comes to not spoon-feeding the plot and twists but you can’t just leave everything to assumption, and Run Lola Run tends to do that. Its one thing being confusing which is really fun (Shutter Island, Inception) and it’s totally different being lost. When lola runs in that shitty animation mode she always bumps in to punk who has a dog, why? Manni and Lola discussing their love story in bed after sex, why? The thing is all this should add up somehow but it just doesn’t.

The relationship with her father seems to be sore and he is having an affair but it is never really dwelled upon. The security guard seems to have liking for Lola, sometime he looks as if he always wanted to sleep with her and sometimes when in ambulance it seems as if he is her father. Three different parts of the stories are presented without any explanation, again. Its feels like you have been robbed of your money and time forget about manni losing his money and has less time. The only place that this movie doesn’t rob you is the running part. The title is apt for the movie as she runs all along, sometimes with animated sequence and sometimes you thinking that cartoons are more intelligent than this movie. You know the biggest worry of the movie is that despite it being just an hour long it doesn’t breeze through, it doesn’t really grip you that way a fast paced thriller should. The reason being the monotonously epic background score which is irritating and annoying at the same time and the constant switch in pace which happens when they are discussing their love story or the father daughter argument.

The one good thing about the movie is that the treatment is very stylish n sleek, the way it is shot, the various color tones, but that’s about it. However, when you’re not entertained or gripped then you don’t care about the treatment. Add to that the difference between that the three stories are minimal which makes you lose interest, and just when you lose interest something new comes up and you lose the plot. It’s like lola is running and you’re running behind lola trying to catch her and ask her, what the fuck is going on.

The performance at best is average. The lead pair doesn’t seem to have any chemistry or intensity in their performances which was so important for the role especially for the role of Moritz Bleibtreu (Manni). He can take a lesson from Colin Farell from Phonebooth as a reference point for a person caught in a shitty situation. Franka Potente (Lola) is really doesn’t have much to do in between the runs she does try to sink her teeth in but just when there seems to be a bite she begins her marathon, rest of the characters roles are just too short to make any sort of an impact at all.

I am feeling so much better after letting this all out finally I can be at peace….Inner Peace. Thank you all for reading this and god bless you all and bless me is well and will not put me through something like Run Lola Run again.

Sanket "SANKI" Shetty

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