I got this on a whim. It was very popular at the Sydney Film festival in 99 so I thought ‘why not?’. It was a first film by German director Tom Tykwer. I liked the idea of your life reloading like a saved game and then trying to get it right. (God knows I’d be hitting the F9 key of life like crazy). The fast and frenetic camera direction can get annoying but it does suit the pressure of time that the movie has. Did anyone else enjoy this one?
Yup. Part of the reason I saw The Bourne Identity this summer was because I wanted to see how Franka Potente did in an American film, since I enjoyed Run Lola Run so much.
- Balut
Mmmmm…Franka Potente. Lola also sang the song that was featured in the film. I thought it was a wonderful flick
The roommate said the movie is much better if you watch it in German rather than in English even if you don’t understand German. Anyone have thoughts on this?
I agree. I saw it both in English first, then in German with English subtitles. The original language version just sounds better. Then again, I prefer any films in original language with subtitles rather than dubbed.
- Balut
I thought it was really interesting to contrast this with Tykwer’s latest film, Heaven, which is based on an “unfinished script by Krzysztof Kieslowski.” Tykwer must be schizophrenic.
Watch “The Sorrow and the Pity” and tell me if you feel differently. It was recently released on DVD after years of being out of print on VHS. I don’t speak German, and my French isn’t good enough to not have to read the subtitles, and after 30 minutes I was actually tired from the effort of trying to speed-read the subtitles so that I could look at the images before the frame changed. It was the most work I’ve ever done just trying to watch a movie, but since everyone (including me) should do more work anyway, I guess that’s good!
That was me - I forgot to “log on!”
How funny. I immediately read that and said to myself-- that’s Bruce Geryk.
Of course the use of the word “work” in any context is a classic Geryk-ism. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be, right now? Slacker.
Whenever I hear “The Sorrow and the Pity” I think about “Annie Hall” and then I think about lobsters. And since I’ve seen “The Sorrow and the Pity” I know how wrong that is.
I started Run Lola Run with the subtitles on and the language set on English. Strangely enough the subtitles weren’t a verbatim copy of the dialogue. It took me a few minutes of cognitive dissonance before I realised I was listening to english whilst reading english. The general meanings of the sentences were similar but I understand why the German version would be the one with the best intent.
I enjoyed the movie, but I couldn’t help but get the impression that there were a couple of loose ends (e.g. what ends up happening with the pistol?). However, I did enjoy the little “where did they end up” vignettes concerning the fates of the bystanders after encountering Lola.
‘Run Lola Run’ is one another one of those movies that makes me wonder how much is style, how much is skill, and how much is gimmick. At least I was entertained and decided it was a worthwhile expenditure of two hours.
- Alan
I feel like there’s a lot more to Tykwer than style. Run Lola Run could have easily been gimmicky, but it had a vibrancy and life that felt to me like something vital was being communicated. I took it as his philosophy of life: don’t stop, don’t hesitate, just go. It’s interesting to watch it while paying attention to the traffic light colors and how they’re used throughout. If you see it again, watch how he uses red and yellow and green, and how their meaning relates to the action and Lola’s choices.
I also saw Winter Sleepers and The Princess and the Warrior, two other Tykwer films, and noticed that he uses the same red/yellow/green symbolism to slightly varying effect. I haven’t seen Heaven – Bruce, is he doing it there, too? I think it could get annoying, but so far I kind of like the way he uses it.
> haven’t seen Heaven – Bruce, is he doing it there, too? I think it could get annoying, but so far I kind of like the way he uses it.
It is, it does. Heaven is easily his worse movie, although it’s always enjoyable to watch Cate Blanchett. I still liked the movie (especially the first 20 minutes), however. It was probably the worst movie we saw at the film festival though.
Stefan
What Stefan said, except for the part about it being the worst film at the festival. I thought Bubba Hoe-tep was worse. And Stefan didn’t see Pleasant Days.
>What Stefan said, except for the part about it being the worst film at the festival. I thought Bubba Hoe-tep was worse
I, on the other hand, enjoyed Bubba Ho-tep as much as any movie I saw at the festival. Bruce Campbell did a great Q&A before and after the movie. There weren’t enough pictures of pretty butterflies in it for Bruce, however.
Check out The Warrior and the Princess (or the Princess and the Warrior)… another German movie with Franka Potente. Pretty cool.
Pretty butterflies make me happy.
Good movie. Go! (1999) was better IMHO. Try it, it’s like Pulp II with plenty of energy and not so much writing.
I thought Go! was more like Pulp Fiction with teens.