This one was probably the big breakthrough of Tom Tykwer. He got a lot of praise for "Lola rennt" - the original German title - in Germany and as "Run Lola Run" his movie brought him worldwide attention and a huge followership as kind of a mainstream arthouse auteur director. The music sets the pace as we listening to a fast beating heartbeat. This film never slows down. Franka Potente - the main actress - is always in motion, she never gets a rest here. Same thing with the cinematography. It's a music video in MTV style really. Tracking shots, close-ups, sometimes the live action story switches to Lola as running cartoon character. When she meets, bump into or screams at a passerby, we get quick flashes of their lifes and how they will turn out after this butterfly-effect encounter. "Run Lola Run" is structured in three different processes of the same story with every single story showing a different decision made by Lola and how the story changes because of it. It's not only Lola who runs, it's the whole film that is running away and we have to be fast and coming along to don't lose track of Franka Potente and Tykwers swift style.

The story isn't well explained. Why exactly do these gangsters for her boyfriend to give them the $100,000? There's no real explanation. Nor is there an explanation why he didn't tell Lola sooner. There are two ways this movie could have gone, story wise, but it didn't go in either direction: 1. The whole movie could have been told in a single point of view without being divided up by three possibilities with the point of view being, of course, Lola's. This way it would be less predictable by the second or third act of the movie. 2. Another possibility is if the writers go with the multiple scenarios, but not just through Lola's eyes. For example: The first act could work just fine as it is, but the second act could focus on what her boyfriend is doing the whole time Lola is running to him when she isn't on camera. Then a third point of view could be what her parents are going through at the same second the first and second acts of the film take place. This way, it won't repeat the same thing almost exactly the same way. A much better movie that deals with different possibilities like this is Rashomon. In that one, it's the same story told from different characters. No necessarily repeating the same story with a slightly different ending.

What if life were like a video game? What if, with a prolonged scream and the drop of a phone, we could restart time, retain all of our previous knowledge, and replay the obstacle course that is life until we reach our optimal outcomes? Run Lola Run, German director Tom Tyker's international breakthrough film, explores this premise. Manni, Lola's boyfriend, has left a bag containing 100,000 deutschmarks on the subway, watching helplessly as it ends up in the hands of a homeless man. To add insult to injury, Manni is expected to deliver this money in the next 20 minutes to a mobster, or risk being killed for failing. Who else can he call then, but his partner in crime, Lola? Together, they form the vague underpinnings of a plan, with only the concrete goal being to get the money, and get it ASAP. Rob a bank? Hold up the store across the street? No one knows. The only thing Lola understands is that she must run, and run fast. Tyker is not one to be tied down to the idea of conformity of traditional cinema form; no, he does whatever he wants, whenever he wants to. Think rapid-fire montages, extended animated sequences, and even VCR-quality shots that you'd imagine would be more fitting in a low-budget soap opera or an amateur home video. In the hands of a lesser director, Run Lola Run could easily have become a pointless exercise in form over substance, but Tyker, with his capable direction, makes it work, creating a tapestry that serves both the story at hand and the greater themes that he aims to explore. This brings us to the next point. What you've read thus far may suggest that Run Lola Run is a skin-deep action diversion, akin to a Mission Impossible or a Fast and the Furious, but don't be misled. As briskly paced and action-packed as it is, at its heart, Run Lola Run wrestles with markedly heavy ideas such as existentialism, destiny, and the nature of time. Tyker, with his gift of brevity, shows us how the smallest, most seemingly benign actions and interactions can cause an avalanche effect on the rest of our lives. Lola distracts a cyclist while running. Later, the cyclist gets mugged and gets his bike stolen. While in the hospital recovering from his wounds, he falls in love with a nurse. They get married and live happily ever after. All of this, told through a series of rapid-fire snapshots in a span of five seconds. A microcosm of life itself, perhaps. Then we get to the idea of time itself being a malleable form that we can control, as opposed to the unwavering forward tick-tock that we know it as. How would we reshape our own paths in life if we were given the power to "respawn" whenever we wanted to? Would we take advantage of others for our own self gain? Would we help others instead, knowing that something harmful will occur to them in the near future? Though Run Lola Run doesn't directly pose these questions to us, you'd be hard-pressed to find any viewer who doesn't contemplate these existential questions after the movie finishes. At its heart, Run Lola Run is imbued with the frenetic energy of modern day Berlin. There's scarcely time to catch our breaths as Lola flies through the streets, driven by the pulsing beat of German synth pop and the immense task at hand. At an economical 81 minutes long, Run Lola Run is the perfect starter course for the moviegoer who wants to delve into German cinema, but is used to the non-stop visual and auditory stimulus of Hollywood blockbusters. For the well-traversed movie aficionado: there is much to sink your teeth into as well. And through it all, Tyker imparts a visual style and an energy that won't let us take our eyes off the screen. Not a single second is wasted, for a single second can shape the rest of our lives.

The synopsis for 'Run Lola Run' is as follows: After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks to save her boyfriend Manni from the wrath of his boss. Now on first glance that looks very thin and it also looks like the plot for a very generic and bland action film. But that's where the viewer can get misled. This film is all about the themes that the director/writer is trying to explore and I find it to be immensely captivating.'Fate', 'Alternate Realities', 'Butterfly effects' etc. are primarily the themes that are dealt with here. These aforementioned themes can sound pretty daunting and heavy, but it is due to the director and writer Tom Tykwer's brilliance that even though the themes are larger-than-life, the film itself is packaged and crafted in the most exciting and enjoyable manner possible. Most parts of the film take place in real time which heighten the tension in the air. It kept reminding me of that brilliant montage in David Fincher's 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' which beautifully underlined the concept of the Butterfly Effect which basically deals with the fact that little, subtle and seemingly minor day-to-day events can have a huge bearing on and can alter the fate and destiny of a person's life. Well 'Run Lola Run' is pretty much the film version of that scene revolving around this concept. A connection can also be made with 'No Country for Old Men'. The basic philosophy that drove Anton Chigurh in his gruesome deeds was his belief that everything depended on chance. Free Will and an almighty superpower do not exist. 'Run Lola Run' also explores that very concept of chance and its effect on life and fate through the Butterfly Effect. Similar to 'No Country for Old Men', this film too in a way towards the end hints towards the idea that maybe human decisions borne out of our own will can have some bearing on the outcome of our life and our destiny, and maybe, just maybe there is someone up there who has a hand in shaping our lives by judging the choices that we make. But that's just my interpretation and this film is open to multiple interpretations.Tom Tykwer's vision and his direction has to be admired here. He showed a lot of boldness to make such an experimental film and still make it a film that has an effect in the minds of the viewer. This film is philosophical, but it is also impeccably stylish. The screenplay is influenced by Groundhog Day. The whole film looks like a prolonged 90s music video. The soundtrack comprises primarily of techno pop and percussion based scores and it completely complements the visual style of the film. The cinematography is also admirable. The film is very colourful in nature with colours being used to convey certain themes. Tom Twyker skilfully maintains the speed and the tension of the film throughout the runtime. Another important thing that helps the film is that it is only 81 minutes long. The short length helps it because the novelty of the experimentation and Tykwer's visual style does not wear off.'Run Lola Run' is not only snazzy and exciting, but it is also philosophical and will encourage debates and analytical conversations. I think it is extensively re-watchable too. Highly recommended.