Run Lola Run directed by Tom Tykwer is a fast-paced German film that keeps you guessing what will happen next. Showing us how small decisions impact the chances and outcomes of events. This film follows Lola, who is our protagonist, on a marathon against time to save Manni, her boyfriend, who managed to lose 100,000 Deutsche Marks that belonged to a criminal he was doing business with. The flow of the movie has three different segments all starting with the same story line but with different events, plot twists and breadcrumbs leading up to the finale.
Each segment starts with Lola in her apartment speaking to Manni on her red rotary phone. Before she starts running, she goes through a list of people who could be of help, and in conclusion chose her father, a bank employee. This scene shows a clip of his face shaking his head in disapproval foreshadowing that he won’t be any help. This timeline leads to Lola literally running out of time and consequently leaving Manni in a dilemma. In attempts to fix this issue Manni concludes that robbing the local store is the only solution. This event spirals to Lola and Manni running from the cops which leads to Lola getting accidentally shot. We jump into her subconscious, where she decides “I don’t want to leave” and restarts.
The second segment changes ever so slightly at first. The background characters interact differently with Lola than the first time around. For example, during the cartoon animation while she ran down the stairs in her apartment, the guy with the mean dog trips her leaving Lola hurt and unable to run fast. Lola decides the solution this time is to rob the bank instead of asking for help. By doing so she saves time and reaches Manni before he robs the store, but the plot twist here is that Manni gets hit by an ambulance. We then jump back into the subconscious, knowing this is not the finale.
The final segment shows how powerful our protagonist is. Growling at the dog foreshadows that this time around everything will work out. When Lola misses her father at the bank she gets redirected to the casino, where she wins the total sum of the money. At the same moment in time Manni catches the man who originally stole the money and no longer is in a dilemma. Lola finally makes it to the phone booth where Manni was waiting but with no sign of him. Of course thinking the worst, and blaming herself once again, but then her eyes drift to Manni getting out of the dealer’s car. In this plot twist both of them survive and also gain 100,000 Deutsche Marks.
In this film, Tom Tykwer does an excellent job using plot twists and breadcrumbs, keeping you engaged. We see elements like Lola’s scream, introduced at the beginning of the movie. Not knowing its importance at first but then seeing how each time the word around her is affected by this scream. Like at the finale, without this element she probably wouldn’t have won at the casino.
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