Run Lola Run

   

1. The film Lola runs has a really unique structure. The main character Lola (performed by Franka Potente) has a task to save her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) by finding a fair amount of money. Manni lost the money on the subway because Lola 'wasnt there' in time to help. The running time of the film is 1 hour and 20 minutes, however the film uses a repetitive technique because it is based in 20 minutes but it repeats the sequence whenever Lola fails to solve the problem. The writer and director (Tom Tykwer) presents this to the audience by, for example the first sequence Lola gets shot because she took the wrong path to resolve the problem, so she had to start again and the film went back in time to when she started running out her apartment.  The film had a lot of scenes that seemed to not be strictly part of the main story, for example when Lola is running, she runs past a couple strangers that interact with her, then we see another side to the stranger because there is a 30 second sequence of photographs of what happens 'next' to the strangers, they start off quite unpleasant (eg. one lady had a car crash, overdosed on medication, then died) however on Lola's second attempt, we see the same woman but a different future (she met a man then got married). I feel that the director decided on these scenes because they are more challenging for the viewer. The meaning of the claim is, if a film doesn't have unanswered questions, confusing points which will get revealed later on in the film and a film that doesn't explore all the possibilities on what could happen, the film wouldn't be entertaining because it kind of gives the audience a possibility to use their imagination.

2. The opening sequence of Run Lola Run symbolises time and space by the swinging pendulum of a clock, the first thing that the audience can see as text appears of the cast and crew and we can hear slight ticking, which immediately introduces the theme of the film, time. After that, the ticking sound gets faster and faster and turns into some kind of fast-beat electronic song. We see a timelapse of strangers placed closely together, the camera is very shaky and the scene is so fast-paced that its hard to focus on any of the people. 'Why do we believe anything at all? Countless questions in search for an answer' The introduction is asking questions for the audience to figure out the answer. As the voice-over continues asking questions of the audience prompting their imagination, the time lapse slows down and give us a quick glimpse of some of the strangers, looking directly into the camera. The last person in the shot is the bank security guard "The game lasts 90 minutes" - and that is the duration of the film.

3. A linear narration is when the audience can easily predict the film for example, a villain appears and causes chaos, the hero goes and defeats the villain, the end. Non-linear narrative is when the action appears randomly in the film. The reason Run Lola Run doesn't fit in the category is because the story changes every 20 minutes and the plot changes every time. It's not really a legitimate film, my opinion is it's more like watching a game, you attempt to save the day, you fail, game over, you start again until you pass the level.

4. In the film, there are small hints to show the characters feelings and thoughts. For example, the first attempt when Lola is about to rob the store with Manni, Manni tells Lola how to turn the safety off on the gun. However when Lola is in the bank on her second attempt, the security guard mentioned how Lola wouldn't know how to use a gun, but Lola remembers what Manni told her, which tells the audience that she is learning something every attempt. An example of the symbols and colours in the film are when Lola and Manni die, the first and second attempt, the audience is brought to a really romantic scene of the couple in bed together both asking quite similar things, however the colour used is red. The colour red can be seen as a variety of meanings, I think to relate to the scene and the film the red colour is to symbolise love/ romance and danger. SPIRALS

5. The film doesn't just focus on Lola and Manni, when Lola is running, as I mentioned earlier, she bumps into random pedestrians that the audience are most likely think nothing of, however we see a 20-30 second sequence of photographs of what happens to them after they cross paths, there was also text over the photos 'and then' just to make sure the audience understand. Another example is when Lola ran past a worker in the bank, and then the audience got to experience the womans future with a couple photographs.  However for each of Lola's attempts, the photographs changed and get slightly happier,  which could signify that she's getting closer and closer to resolve the problem. Another small example is when on her first attempts, Lola runs in front of a car and it smashes into a white car, however on her last attempt, she jumped onto the first car and then it stopped, meaning that the white car avoided the crash. Five minutes later Manni causes the same crash but a lot more serious than in the earlier scenes. In this case, Lolas dad was a victim which may be seen as his just deserve for his affair.