Assignment 1 (Part 2)
Run Lola Run is about a woman named Lola attempting to retrieve money for her boyfriend, Manni, before the deadline his criminal boss set. If Manni fails in giving his boss the money, they’ll kill him. After calling Lola as his last desperate attempt, he gives her his ultimatum, if she can’t help him get the money on time, he will rob the store across the street from his current position. Lola runs across the city to ask her bank manager father to lend the amount of money needed. However, he declines while disowning her. She then runs to the store to stop Manni, but it’s too late. After assisting Manni in the armed robbery, they begin to run from the police, where they are cornered, and Lola is fatally shot. This marks where we get our first twist, time rewinds to the point where the phone call ends, and Lola gets another attempt in her mission. Lola begins her run again but takes slightly different approaches than before, with these seemingly minor changes affecting how the story plays out.
While the protagonist and namesake of the film dying before even the half-way mark would be an extremely risky choice from the director and its unlikely the audience truly believed she was dead, there were several hints on the circumstance that would cause her “resurrection”.
– Before the main events of the film, there was a heavy emphasis on the concept of time. The first thing the viewer sees before the film even starts is a ticking clock, the animation at the beginning featuring Lola running through a clock, Manni mentioning that Lola is “always on time”, and Lola looking at a clock before beginning her run. These all suggest that time plays a deeper role than just the time limit the main characters have placed on them.
– The film also opens with a dialogue about the purpose of our existence. And while this can be interpreted in several ways, The phrase of “But, in the end isn’t always the same question? And always the same answer?” suggest the idea of do we already have a path predetermined for us or do we shape our own destinies. Lola going back in time for another chance, is her physically running off the course of a theoretical predetermined path.
– The slow motion shot that occurs after Lola’s phone conversation ends, with the red phone flying through the air before landing on the cradle. We see later that Lola rewinds back to this point, learning why this scene got so much importance early on.
The film does have a handful of more twists after the first loop occurs, but one of the more unique twists happens at the very end of the movie. Lola does succeed in getting the amount of money needed on time. However, her main mission to save Manni is rendered seemingly unnecessary as Manni happens to retrieve the money he lost on his own. While Lola was on the third attempt her run, Manni encounters the homeless man that that had stolen the money from him. Lola’s expression during this reveal is one of bewilderment, that the hardship she went through was ultimately futile, but unbeknownst to her the choices and interactions she made this time around did have a direct impact on the outcome. Run Lola Run highlights certain interactions Lola makes during her run, and while they seem relatively insignificant, we do see how what she does in that moment shapes events that take place, especially in the third act.
– Lola almost running into the biker this time around causes him to take a different path than he took previously, which leads to him selling his bike to the homeless man. The homeless man purchasing this bike ultimately is what leads to Manni running across him again. Manni trades the homeless man his gun for the cash, the gun had been a prevalent symbol about Manni’s desperation in this situation but with him letting go of it, he ends up getting what he needs to save his life.
– Lola stopping to briefly talk to the driver of the car that she had jumped over in the previous runs, ends up being a car that picks up her father. If she had not talked to the driver, the car would not have been on time to pick up her dad. The car later gets into a fatal car accident. Since her father left the bank before she could arrive, she no longer can ask him for money which leads to her going to the casino where she does win enough to pay off what Manni owes.
Previous attempts where Manni robbed the store or Lola robbed the bank, had ended in tragedy for the couple. But in the third attempt where neither of them died, they both had got the money but by completely lawful means, suggesting that they walk out of this as better people.
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