Run Lola Run has been on my film bucket list since I had hair. It was one of those films that you heard about from the cooler people you knew. It was the movie that the cool girls who babysat you when you were little talked about. It was pure Gen-X and I always looked up to that generation. I’m not an X-er, but they were damn cool. Lola embodies that generation. She’s so self-secure and tough and cool and hip and if you don’t like her- Whatever!
Yes, Gen-X women had a go F-yourself streak that if you didn’t like them, piss off. I was the beginning of the Millennial/Y generation who I guess got into avocado sandwiches or whatever they say about us. X was the generation that knew they were getting passed over because there was a bigger generation coming and the boomers did not want to get out of the way, but X embraced the suck of it all.
It is really sucky that Lola is in love with Manni who is a really mediocre criminal. Manni also loses things; such as, a bag of 100,000 Marks (60,000 USD) that belongs to a gangster. Oopsy! He is like the Anti-Lola: whiny, dumb, insecure, and unlike Lola -NO screaming telekinesis powers AT ALL! Yes, when she screams, it destroys or moves objects. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out why she liked Manni so much – FFS she has superpowers.
When Manni tells Lola that he lost the gangster’s money and says that he will rob a grocery store if she doesn’t get to him in twenty minutes, Lola literally RUNS into action. Yes, there is A LOT of running in this film. She runs in hallways, on sidewalks, on streets, away from cops, and accidentally towards cops. As she runs past people, we get a glimpse of the extras’ lives in THIS timeline and boy are these extras a bunch of cretins.
Timeline?! WHAT?! Yes, this movie is ALL about time travel. Lola needs to get the day right or she or her boyfriend or David Duchovny will die. I’m assuming Duchovny too because he was a 1990s GOD! She time trips three times to get it, to get it, to get it right child. I was going to reference some 1998 songs, but I looked them up and The Thong Song just sounds sad.
The movie blends light surrealism with action and really believable performances. You have this guttural feeling that this is a woman on her own, fighting her own fight, and you better get out of her way. Also, she’s the only person in the film who is pure-hearted. Her dad is a philandering banker asshat, her boyfriend is a milquetoast, and the people she bumps into show glimpses of their sinful lives. Lola is literally running around evil. She has great running form too; I ran track in high school and she’s got talent.
I hope she wins and saves her loser boyfriend.
Merry Christmas!!!
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