Run Lola Run (Blu-ray) (1999)

"Fabulously kinetic.  Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
"Dazzling.  Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"Exhilarating.  Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"Stunning.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
"A stylistic triumph -- swift, witty, consistently dazzling to behold!  Stephen Farber, MovieLine

Editor's Note Set against the gritty urban scenescape of Berlin and a pounding techno soundtrack, RUN LOLA RUN is a frenetic, inventive existential thriller that explores the life-altering impact of seemingly inconsequential actions. Beautiful, hip, and young, poor Lola has but 20 minutes to locate a missing bag containing 100,000 Deutsche marks or come up with the money some other way--if she can't, gangsters are going to kill her boyfriend. A pulse-raising race against time, the film employs a startling array of innovative techniques to present three separate scenarios, all departing from a single split-second decision Lola makes. Franka Potente, who also sings on the soundtrack, is mesmerizing as Lola. Winner of the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival; Best Film, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director at the German Film Awards; 1998 Bambi Award; and the Golden Space Needle Award for Best Film at the Seattle International Film Festival.

	Franka Potente
	Herbert Knaup
	Moritz Bleibtreu
	Nina Petri
	Alexander Manasse - Production Designer
	Attila Saygel - Art Director
	Frank Griebe - Cinematographer
	Maria Kopf - Executive Producer
	Mathilde Bonnefoy - Editor
	Reinhold Heil, et. al. - Original Music By
	Stefan Arndt - Producer
	Tom Tykwer - Director
	Tom Tykwer - Writer

Sight and Sound
"...Pop-video aesthetics and pumping techno which keeps us breathless....An awesome achievement..." 11/??/1999 p.52

Rolling Stone
"...Twyker puts nearly every trick in the cinematic arsenal to stunning use..." p.164

Entertainment Weekly
"...The sheer ingenuity of [Tykwer's] gamesmanship is amazing..." -- Rating: A 06/25/1999 pp.106-7

New York Times
"...A furiously kinetic display of pyrotechnics....Mr. Twyker's visual virtuosity revels in the possibilities here..." 06/18/1999 p.E10

Premiere
".,..RUN LOLA RUN kicks off with an outrageous visual motif....then it spends the remainder of its tight 80 minutes topping itself..." 06/01/1999 p.24

Los Angeles Times
"...Inventive....LOLA's music is perfectly suited to the film's aims and just about addictive in its throbbing, insinuating rhythms..." 06/18/1999 p.F2

Chicago Sun-Times
"...It's an exercise in kinetic energy, a film of nonstop motion and visual invention..." 07/02/1999 p.32

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "A pulse-pounding and anarchic thriller....It's a short and sweet premise, and one that replays in different variations as time resets and Lola follows a different succession of cause and effect." 05/01/2008 p.83

ReelViews 9 of 10
Run Lola Run is a must-see for anyone who enjoys a fast-paced, innovative motion picture that refuses to be defined by norms of the genre. As far as I'm concerned, it's the most fun I have had at any movie thus far in 1999. Directed by Tom Tykwer, this German import is a kinetic meditation on fate and destiny. It tells the story of Lola (Franka Potente, an actress with true screen presence), a '90s girl with Raggedy Ann hair, a large tattoo, and a voice so penetrating that when she screams, she can shatter glass. She's also athletic, because, as one might expect from the title, Lola spends most of the movie running...Saturated with irony, the film moves at a blazing speed to the accompaniment of a relentless techno soundtrack; blink and you'll probably miss a thrown-in visual gag. Using an innovative mix of animation, still photography, slow motion, and normal cinematography, Twyker illustrates how the smallest change in what a person does can alter the rest of their life (not to mention the lives of others, including complete strangers they pass on the street). Harlan Jacobson, a critic friend of mine, called this a "90 minute MTV video," but, while that statement captures the film's spirit, it greatly shortchanges Run Lola Run, which has as much depth as it has energy and action. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
"Run Lola Run" is the kind of movie that could play on the big screen in a sports bar. It's an exercise in kinetic energy, a film of nonstop motion and visual invention. A New York critic called it "post-human," and indeed its heroine is like the avatar in a video game--Lara Croft made flesh...Film is ideal for showing alternate and parallel time lines. It's literal; we see Lola running, and so we accept her reality, even though the streets she runs through and the people she meets are altered in each story. The message is that the smallest events can have enormous consequences...Franka Potente, who plays Lola, has a certain offhand appeal. I liked her, though I can't say I got to know her very well, and she is usually out of breath. She runs down sidewalks and the middle of streets, arms pumping, bright red hair flying, stomach tattoo wrinkling in time with her footsteps..."Run Lola Run" is essentially a film about itself, a closed loop of style. Movies about characters on the run usually involve a linear story ("The Fugitive" comes to mind), but this one is basically about running--and about the way that movie action sequences have a life and logic of their own. I would not want to see a sequel to the film, and at 81 minutes it isn't a second too short, but what it does, it does cheerfully, with great energy, and very well. - Roger Ebert