Tykwer’s 1998 film Run Lola Run was a very enjoyable and useful film for us to watch.  There were many elements from the readings and discussion that came into play with the film and it was also a fun experience. The film uses editing very effectively to show many different things. The very fast cuts of Lola and Manni and the phone, the quick frames of the futures of the people Lola interacts This type of editing added to the rising suspense of each time Lola would run to Manni, which contrasts with the final moments of each “run” which were in slow motion. I enjoyed reading about the film in Understanding Film Theory as well, this provided more insight into the film. For example how the 180 degree line was consistently broken to make us feel somewhat lost while we followed her through the city. Editing techniques like this greatly added to the films overall feel.

There were a few other ideas in the film that I found interesting, I brought one up in class, which was the very beginning in which we saw the security guard and he said something along the lines of “90 minutes each time, the rest is just theory.” I am still confused as to why he said this, and why they chose the security guard to say this. Toby brought up something that I had noticed too, in which the first scene were we see the father and his lover the quality of the footage diminishes greatly, almost as if we are watching a soap opera, which could be what the director was going for. Another thing we touched on was the idea of Run Lola Run being a fairy tale, how her scream and touch have powers, and I never thought of this before, I had seen the film before but did not make this connection, I see this now and can notice the relations between the film and Propp’s hero theory.

I also enjoyed the use of animation in the film, I do not know why it was chosen, (the stair case, intro, and when the father comes out as animation briefly) but I enjoyed it, a creative touch to an already creative film.

Nick Tassoni