Run Lola Run

Run Lola Run is a popluar German film about a young woman named Lola who somehow needs to collect 100,000 "marks" (dollars) to her boyfriend Manny. Manny had just lost 100,000 marks that was destined for some dangerous criminal or drug lord who supposedly would have killed him if the money was not there. He is contemplating whether or not to rob a grocery store in all three of the chapters.

Now, the plot of this movie is very confusing so please bear with me... 

The film features three distinct segments or "versions" of the same scenario. In each version, Lola receives the phone call from Manny and runs towards his presence all the meanwhile trying to figure out how to attain the 100,000 marks. She only has 30 minutes, and the audience is constantly reminded of the time she has left. In the first version, Manny holds up a grocery store but in the end Lola is shot before the money could be returned. In the second episode, Lola holds up her Father at his own bank at gunpoint. Before the marks could be returned however, Manny is hit by atruck. In the final chapter, Lola wins the money at a casino and Manny regaibns his 100,000 marks from a homeless man. Also in this final version, Lola's father gets in a car wreck with the mob/gang who the money is intended for. 

After watching the entirety of Run Lola Run, it seems as though the concept of time is very relevant to German society. This is highly noticeable in one scene where Lola is one minute late to Manny, and that becomes a very overblown issue. I am still curious as to how valuable time is to Germans. Is life in Germany so structured and strictly based off the hour of the day? Is time a number on the clock, or is it more than that to German society?

In conclusion, I thought that this film was intriguing, uniqe, and distinct. I'm not really used to seeing unorthodox movies that would normally be perceived as strange, weird, or different. This movie was most certainly different, and this was because of its structure, plot, and cartoonish scenes that periodically grazed the screen. The fact that Run Lola Run is so uniqe really contributes to its popularity and its easy enjoyability. If you haven't seen this foreign film already, I highly recommend it just for its creativity.