RUN LOLA RUN: A CULT?
iView Author: SATYENDRA JHA (Pune,India)
Email: satyendrajha30@gmail.com
RUN LOLA RUN: A CULT ?
Year was November 1998. Occasion was Calcutta Film Festival (CFF). Venue was Nandan Cineplex. Being an avid film-buff, the CFF was a much sought-after event for me, and having my father working for the Home Ministry, it was not a big deal to get the daily passes for almost all days of the 12-day festival. It was on such an occasion, and a mind without any expectations, that I gleefully walked inside Nandan theatre – 1, and after a brief introduction by the host, which was nothing more than what had already been mentioned in the festival brochure, the hall darkened and the magic began.
To use an adjective like ‘magic’ for a movie might sound blasphemous to some, but I was blown away by the style and treatment of the simple story told in a unique manner. It was a first time experience for me, along with many others in the darkened theatre, and by the time the movie ended, there was a thunderous applause and a standing ovation for the movie, continuing for almost five minutes after the movie ended. So much so, that the host had to sheepishly remind the audience that the next schedule might be affected unless the theatre was immediately vacated for its usual house-keeping.
Looking back in time, and after having been exposed to other movies of the same genre, most notably Three Colors: Red, Run Lola Run doesn’t so unique after all. But then, there was not enough exposure to world movies, and whatever came my way for the first time, I used to consider that as the trend-setter of that genre.
The movie follows a multiple-narrative format, primarily following the same story within the same timeline, but having multiple options at the command of the main protagonist. The premise of the story is quite simple to begin with: a phone-call from her boyfriend Manni sends Lola on the expedition of arranging a huge amount within twenty minutes, failing which the consequences could lead to her boyfriend being killed by the local gang-lord for whom he is working, or conversely the boyfriend is determined to rob a nearby departmental store immediately upon completion of the stipulated twenty minutes to save his life.
The first question that comes to mind is – why would the girl risk everything for her boyfriend, even though she realises that it was more out of his own stupidity than anything else that he lost that money which he had in his possession. Well, a simple answer to that is, and it is revealed by way of a dream-sequence in the course of the movie, that both of them have questions / apprehension about their love and dedication towards each other, and Lola feels to help Manni out of the mess would be the ideal way to prove once and for all, her love for him. On an aside, after watching the movie, I asked one of my friends why Lola would take such extreme measures for a loser person like Manni, and his simple logic was – agar nahin karti toh film kaise banti…? I had nothing much to offer after that supreme awareness of the film-going mankind…
The film establishes its pace within two minutes, immediately after the basic premise has been established. Lola runs frantically through the city to reach her father, who is a Banker, and plans to request him for the money, but the father doesn’t relent, in the process telling her certain bitter family truths as well. Dejected, she runs to Manni at the designated rendezvous, only to realise that she reached one minute too late, and Manni has gone ahead with the robbery of the departmental store. Determined to help him at all cost, she joins in the robbery, and when they come out, they find themselves surrounded by the police, where, one policeman accidentally shoots Lola and she is about to die.
It’s at this point that she reflects upon a surreal sequence of a post-coital pillow-talk with Manni, where she questions his integrity in the relationship, and is not convinced with his answers. Determined not to end her life with that ambiguity lurking in her mind, she stops the flow of sequences, and returns to the original point of her commencing the run to arrange money for Manni.
The next run starts in the same manner, with slight changes in the happenings, resulting in Lola reaching her father’s bank at a slightly later time than in the earlier run, and is eventually forced to rob the bank. On her way to Manni, with the money, she finds Manni being run over by the same ambulance that she had come across in both her runs. This time Manni dreams of the same pillow-talk-sequence, where he is questioning Lola’s integrity in the relationship.
Not ready to accept this eventuality either, Lola is forced to stop the time once again and refresh the events all over again. The third run goes on smoothly till the time she reaches her father’s bank, where she finds him already gone. Desperate for money, she comes across a casino, and having only 100 DMs on her, she bets it all in a roulette game and wins. She once puts the entire winnings on the same number, and once again wins it, thereby giving her a bit more than what was required for Manni. In the meantime, Manni is able to locate the source of his distress who had decamped with his money, and after a brief confrontation, Manni is able to retrieve his money. When Lola reaches the rendezvous, she finds Manni shaking hands with his gang-lord boss, having given him the promised money. Everything ends on a positive note in this sequence.
There are certain recurring themes and events that appear in all the three runs, and they change slightly with each changing run that Lola undertakes. There is not much to read between the lines, except as to how our lives might change due to a split-second change in the timeline. The same theme was countered in a more detailed manner in another cult movie The Butterfly Effect.
The movie impacted me more for its frenetic pace and multi-optional story-telling from a single point of view. By the time the movie ends, the audience can also feel the adrenaline rush that Lola must have gone through. Franka Potente played Lola, who later on played the role of Bourne’s friend in The Bourne Supremacy. The other roles were played by German actors, and I have not seen much of the rest since this movie. It was directed by Tom Tykwer, who has recently directed The International with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts.
There were other movies also that I watched in that festival, most notably Bhalo Theko, the Bengali movie where Vidya Balan debuted. However, after having watched Run Lola Run, nothing seemed good enough to beat the experience. I remember, in the CFF of the previous year (1997), I had similarly been blown away by Face/Off.
As a practice that I have noticed, almost all such Film festivals throw up a phenomenon every year, which may not be cinematically the best, but it is certainly the most talked about. Run Lola Run was definitely in that category in 1998. Now I am far away from Kolkata, and have not been to the CFF since 2000, but the memory of those eponymous movies that I have watched in these festivals would definitely remain etched in my mind forever. For the sake of nostalgia, I watched Run Lola Run once again a couple of days back, having coaxed my wife to watch it at all costs, and while watching it, I was virtually transported to that sublime experience of having watched it the first time.
Those who have watched it, I would like you to comment about your take on the movie, and for those who haven’t, GO GET IT…
Tags: Calcutta Film Festival, Clive Owen, Franka Potente, Naomi Watts, Run Lola Run, The Bourne Supremacy, Tom Tykwer
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
First time i watched it, was totally confused, just could not make what was happening. Watched it couple of times over and over again, and yeah again one of my favorites. I think this and Pulp Fiction were two movies that introduced me to the non linear kind of storytelling.
BTW there was a lousy Hindi remake of this, Ek Din 24 Ghante, starring Rahul Bose and Nandita Das. Pathetic movie really.
rlr was an helluva movie
Wow! It’s handy having a parent in the ‘know’ isn’t it?!!
I remember watching this film at a run down, old and most probably haunted cinema!
Man, I was hooked!
Loved it!
The pace of the film got my adrenaline rushing so much that I literally ran out of the cinema, and went the longest route to the train station!
I’m sure ppl must’ve thought ke yeh kaun pagal hain jo itna bhaag raha hain, but I swear, NO FILM has EVER had that effect on me!
Cult? Most definitely! :-)
@ Ratnakar: yeah i know a couple of my friends who caught this movie in that CFF, and didnt like it coz the non-linear story-telling craft was very new for most ppl to digest it. they also got confused in the dream-sequence part.
i loved the movie though, initially for the amazing adrenaline rush the movie provides, and subsequently for the layered, nuanced & subtle changes in each of the runs.
yeah, that hindi take was lousy to say the least. cudnt imagine nandita das cud b a part of such a stupid work of art.
@ Sulakhsana Biswas: this was really one helluva movie. did u watch it in CFF? (assuming u r a bengali, and might b in kolkata, pardon me if im off the mark here…)
.
the movie later played in regular shows for abt two weeks in Nandan, btw
@ Steve: LOL, man, i cant believe u literally took to the streets a la Lola. yes, amazing movie, amazingly paced. im glad u also concur with me abt it being a cult…
any more experience related to the movie? maybe ur viewing experience…! bring them on…
Jha- yes RLR was certainly refreshing in its narration style.And its definitely worth rewatching any time.BTW I’m surprised to know Balo Theko was screened in CFF in 1998.The movie released in 2003/04- wondering why it took so long to release.
@ Sethu: i must hv watched RLR umpteen no. of timessince i managed to get the DVD ofthe same abt 2 weeks back. everytime u watch it, u come across something thts so subtely differed in each of the three runs. amazing… the fast jump-cuts leading to the life of the secondary characters is amazing..
yeah, bhalo theko didnt get any distributors for so long, primarily becoz it was considered to be too slow for the mainstream audience. besides, vidya balan was not a name to reckon with prior to parineeta.
@ Satyendra: One of my most favorite movies at all times. This is one of the best ‘time loop’ premise movie which impresses me more with every repeat watch. Here’s my review on RLR, I have said it all whatever I felt.
Its technically brilliant, fast paced and awesome in styling. I especially love the still photo streams of the characters as a side story !
Happy to see you have mentioned Butterfly Effect too, though it was more complex non-linearity.
Another ‘time loop’ movie I have seen was 12:01 clock, an average one. I am yet to see Groundhog Day though.
I miss Nandan & the festivals I used to see there.
@~uh~: glad u mentioned 12:01
i have asked lots of ppl and they said no. in fact, when i explained the story of 12:01, they wud not believe tat such a movie has been made, they thought i was fooling :D
very few ppl seem to have seen tat movie
@ uh: sirjee, we seem to have so much in common,which is coming out each new article / comment by either of us. glad to know u hv already covered RLR. will go thru your link asap.
butterfly effect (director’s cut) is even better, considering its alternate ending in the DVD. do catch it if u hvnt already.
12:01 – sorry, havent watched it. DVD available? how do i lay my hands on it? or mayb torrents is the option?
wud like to know more abt it. y dont u or rals do an article on 12:01?
@ Rals: hv already requested u and UH both for an article on 12:01. sounds very intriguing… what is it abt?
u didnt mention anythg abt RLR though… your take on it…?
@ crazyrals: Sure thing !
I saw it on TV in mid 90s. 12:01 was my first ‘time loop’ movie experience, before RLR was even made. Though 12:01 was fairly sweet to watch, RLR revolutionized the concept and set a new benchmark.
@ Satyendra: I have the BE cd, but the Directors’s cut is available on big flix.
12:01 is a first generation time loop movie where some kind of scientific experiments go wrong the protagonist gets trapped in a 24 hour loop, getting rewind every night at 12:00 clock. So, every day is same for him and like RLR he learns to improve his ‘timing’ every passing day. The movie had a romantic angle and happy ending.
Though I have seen it long time back, but I remember there were time loop scenes like neighbours’ kids playing football, a sexy lady walking past and a car accident, all interlinked to change the story everyday.
Yeah, I too noticed the uncanny similarity. Kolkata, Ray and now time loop !:D
Cheers!
~uh~
@Satyendra: 12:01 is available on veoh.com; tats where i found and watched it
RLR … did not have anything to say yaar, nahi to comment karta. jo bolna tha wo ratnakar ne bol diya, abt the crappy remake
by the way, 12:01 was more of an entertainer amd was never meant to be path-breaking loop kinda cinema. it was a science-fiction concept probably inspired by back2future
RLR made a concerted effort and technically much-much better. a good watch, racy/pacy movie
@ uh & Rals: just checked 12:01 on wiki n IMDB. wud try to catch up asap. thx for the great intro…
I’ve watched 12:01. It was just so-so. Best timeloop movie for me remains to be [b]Primer[/b] and of course there is also Timecrimes but I prefer Primer.
You know what, I watched rnr and didn’t find it too great, but now that you all are talkin abt it, i’ll go ahead and watch it again, this nite, esp since you equate it to three colors in its treatment; blue is one of the movies i’m crazy about. many movies you tend to enjoy only on repeat viewing, at least thats true for me, maaybe i miss the finer points in the first viewing or whatever, but thats been the case with me for many like blue, full metal jacket, taste of cherry, …..
@~uh~: and crazyrals, count me in, 12:01; don’t remember it very well though
fantastic movie…I had watched this movie around 6 years back…how a small change in events can lead to different futures for different people was well brough out in this movie….moreover the film matches the frenetic pace as the title suggests..engrossing fare
Havent seen this movie but seems like it is in the same league of movies as are The Jacket, 12 Monkeys, Donnie Darko or Primer which makes this movie a must watch.
frikkin awesome movie. I remember, hearing about this movie, through a co-worker and really didnt know much about it – except he was raving about it. I used to shop for used VHS tapes back then, since they were going for $4.00 a tape – as opposed to DVDs which were almost 25-30.00 dollars back then. I was instantly attracted to the poster design – red color. I popped it in and wow,,,, I just loved it , the very first time around. I was hooked. its one of those movies, which actually is better on your second and third viewing, cuz of the way the non-linear screenplay is and also, I loved the soundtrack of it. and those days, I was heavily into techno music,,,, I truly enjoyed every minute of it…..to those who haven’t watched it – its a MUST watch .
A True cult classic!
i did watch rnr again last nite, liked it, but i couldn’t say i was thrilled, anyway everyone has preferences. blind chance is quite similar, except that its restrained and for me, better
@ Jahanpanah: Primer is definitely a good movie. Havent yet watched 12:01, but plan to do it soon.
.
watch RLR, if u hvnt yet. its worth it..
Vishal @ 18 & 24: im glad to know the article and the comments at least made u watch RLR the second time. as per your own admission, u tend to get a bit more of the movie in your repeat viewing. to each his own.
.
the reason some maynot like it as much as i hv raved abt it due to viewing experience on a big screen with Dolby etc. and at home (maybe not even a genuine DVD). i was fortunate to watch it in arguably one of the best theatres in India (Nandan – Kolkata), and was just blown away. the movie might hv lost its sheen or novelty for some in the last decade, but it was a novel experience for me back then… and even now…
@ Ashwin, Bipin & Faraaz: yes, true. its a frikking awesome movie. thanks for the concurrence.
Run Lola Run is awesome but i gotta agree ek din 24 ghante was one of the worst movies done by both Nandita Das and Rahul bose..
@ Vishal:cudnt agree with u more bro. and count ratnakar in as well.
.
btw, u shudtry to catch up ratnakar’s review of the eternal “horror” (pun intended) movie: jaani dushman, ek anokhi prem kahani. Ratnakar prefers to call it “jaani dushman, ek anokhi torture”.
check it out, and u might as well consider ek di: 24 ghante as a masterpiece… LOL