The German film Lola rennt (literally Lola runs) is the story of a young woman, Lola (Franka Potente), who upon receiving a frantic phone call from her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) in the morning, has twenty minutes to find a way to come up with 100,000 Deutsche Marks and bring them to him in order to save his life (and possibly hers). Lola then goes on her "run," but she fails and is killed.
No, I haven't spoiled it for you, because the day restarts and Lola runs twice more -- each time with details both small and large changing; even the course of peoples' lives with whom she comes into contact with on each run is altered in different ways each time through. Known more by its slightly adapted English title, Run Lola Run is one amongst many Hollywood and international cinematic visions to come out of the last decade of the 20th century to question fate, destiny, and our existence, no doubt brought on by the looming close of the century; the end of the millennium, and the prophecies of doom, which surrounded it.
Writer/director Tom Tykwer used a variety of techniques to maintain a frantic and energetic pace in order to keep the film from feeling sluggish and boring to the viewer -- animated segments, photographic montages of future events, video footage, and a constantly pulsating electronica soundtrack. These things all help, to a degree, but there are still times when one can't help but grow a bit weary at watching Lola run through the same day, yet again, at times with ever so slight a change changes in events. Sometimes the constant barrage of technique is even a bit overwhelming, cumbersome, and self-indulgent, in my opinion.
With all of those things taken into account, however, it is still admittedly a bold and risky move to make a film based on such a premise and certainly a move one could hardly see coming out of the boardrooms of Hollywood. In fact, it is a testament to the director's skill that such an international phenomenon was filmed on a mere $2 million budget. Certainly, Run Lola Run will be shown to film students for decades to come as a fine example of cinematic experimentalism, even if it the story itself sometimes fails to hold one's attention.
For an alternate take on the film see Joe Lozito's review of Run Lola Run.
The Picture
Presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in a 1080p/24 high definition transfer, Run Lola Run's low-budget aesthetic and combination of 35-mm film and video footage will keep it from looking as good as some other films might on a high definition medium. The transfer from Sony was quite good, though not flawless.
In some of the darker scenes the shadows look slightly washed out -- this should have been darkened a bit. Other than that minor fault, I could not find any problem with the picture that pertained specifically to the transfer itself. I could see no compression artifacts, certainly no edge enhancement nor any problems with saturation. There were times when the picture seemed a bit soft, particular in background and long distance shots, but I attribute that to the filming techniques and not the transfer. Overall I would say, apart from the aforementioned washed out blacks, what you are seeing on this disc is the film as it was intended.
The Audio
The audio options available are German and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless, and Portuguese and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1. I chose to listen to the German TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack with English subtitles turned on, because I loathe dubbed audio tracks for live action films. Although the original language lossless track was decent, it was certainly not perfect. Dialogue was not always as clear as it could have been and the driving Electronica soundtrack could have used more of a boost in the lower frequencies. In fact, the entire mix was slightly boosted in the midrange and rolled-off in the upper and lower frequencies just a tad, resulting in a somewhat dull, ever so slightly thin sound. Although the surround channels were used, it sounded less discrete to my ears than it did like a reprocessed 2-channel mix.
The Extras
There are not many extras provided on this release. There is the customary audio commentary track with director Tom Tykwer and Franka Potente, a behind-the-scenes making-of featurette of sorts entitled "Still Running" (HD/16:9), in which director Tom Tykwer and Franka Potente are interviewed, a "Blu-ray Disc is High Definition" (HD/16:9) promo, and a promo for Close Encounters of the Third Kind 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition (HD/16:9).
Final Thoughts
An internationally acclaimed title worthy of the best high definition Blu-ray treatment, this Blu-ray Disc release will be quite satisfying to all fans of this experimental classic. The picture and sound quality aren't perfect, but still offer a high enough quality that they will not disappoint and will make this the definitive version of this title on disc for years to come.
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