REVIEW: DVD Release: Run Lola Run

Film: Run Lola Run
Release date: 10th April 2000
Certificate: 15
Running time: 77 mins
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri, Armin Rohde
Genre: Crime/Thriller
Studio: Sony
Format: DVD
Country: Germany

Director Tom Tykwer’s fast-paced and multi-award-winning thriller centres around the choices we make, and how they affect our fate.

Lola (Potente) receives a worried phone call off her boyfriend Manni (Bleibtreu). He explains that after a diamond deal, he lost 100,000 DM belonging to his boss, and if he doesn’t get it in twenty minutes then he will be killed. Lola tells him she will get there and will help him, to which he replies that if she isn’t there in time he will rob the department store across the street.

Lola now has twenty minutes to find 100,000 DM and save her boyfriend. What ensues is a frantic run through town met with choices leading to possible alternatives and the ultimate outcomes of the day…


Believe it or not, the film is essentially only twenty minutes in length. That is the plot of the film. Once the first twenty minutes are up the audience is taken back to the start to relive it all again, only this time different choices are made which affect the final outcome. This happens three times in total, and also includes a brief glimpse into the characters’ lives prior to these frantic twenty minutes.

As Lola runs through the three alternatives she encounters various people along the way whose stories are glimpsed through snapshots and, like Lola’s, differ each time. In all variations, she tries to find help from her father, who is also going through his own different versions of events which intertwine with Lola’s. As with all the minor characters his future is also subject to choices and fate relating to Lola.

Foreign cinema is always producing films that aren’t necessarily what you would expect. Unlike a lot of the stuff from Hollywood it is made mainly through passion and an idea; not just to get bums on seats. Occasionally though, a film does succeed in being both fantastically well made and massively popular at the same time. In terms of this film, it is very different not only to Hollywood films, but to other foreign films as well. The idea of the film is very clever, and is pushed throughout, which makes the film very precise - and means that every single shot is important. Every scene includes another reminder that instils the viewer to think of their own life and the choices around them.

The film uses a wide variety of shooting techniques, from dolly shots and hand-held camera to snapshot-like jump cuts and even animation in parts. All of this could seem rather hectic, but within the film it does work. The fast cutting and tracking places the viewer in amongst the action, and really conveys the urgency of the situation.

It is a real credit to the acting, the emotion we feel for the characters. Not much is learnt about them over the three versions of the twenty minutes, and with such a short running time, you wouldn’t expect to care about them so much. By the third alternative, Lola runs through the now recognisable scenes and streets towards her fate and, despite having already seen a number of the shots, there is no boredom in it - in fact it is more enthralling.

The soundtrack to the film fits perfectly, and acts as a catalyst pushing you through streets as Lola runs towards her destiny. The film is helped further by incredibly good acting all-round. Bleibtreu puts in a very good performance as Manni, however, it is Potente who definitely steals the show as Lola. All the supporting cast are solid, especially Lola’s father who has to deal with a bank robbery, a pregnancy and an affair in the various alternatives.

The blending of the uniqueness with a blockbuster feel is the real key to the films success. This makes it accessible to a very wide audience, including those who normally shy away from anything with subtitles. In this sense, it is a very important film as, for some, it could be the way in to a completely new world of cinema.


A very well thought out piece of cinema, fantastically shot, with an excellent story. AH

REVIEW: DVD Release: La Haine

Film: La Haine
Release date: 27th September 2004
Certificate: 15
Running time: 98 mins
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui
Genre: Crime/Drama
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: France

A dark exploration of the harsh realities of life in suburban Paris shot in stark black-and-white.

The story follows Vinz, Saïd and Hubert in the 24 hours following riots in the Paris suburb where they live, during which their friend Abdel was beaten by police and is now barely alive in intensive care.

The main plotline of the film sees Vinz finding a policeman’s gun lost in the riots and vowing that if Abdel dies he will use it to kill a cop. From the outset, it seems inevitable that Abdel will die which, coupled with Vinz’s growing fantasies, creates an awkward tension with the viewer as if waiting for a bomb to explode.

As the film progresses, the desperation of the characters’ situation becomes more and more apparent. For people on the estates, there are no prospects and no hope. The trio go from area to area either becoming bored or moved on by the police as the struggle against society is emphasised…


The characters of Vinz and Hubert seem to have been modelled purposefully to be polar opposites. There is the sensible down to earth Hubert, who, throughout the film, attempts tirelessly to talk sense into Vinz, who in turn becomes more of an extreme - yearning for blood as he idolises Travis Bickle’s character from Taxi Driver.

Firmly in between these two characters sits Saïd, who acts as a counterpoint joking around and telling stories in an attempt to connect the emotionally charged Vinz and Hubert. The interaction between the characters works really well and the film is superbely acted throughout, with good performances from the supporting cast also, especially within the police force.

The major issue presented in the film is that of police brutality and race within the housing projects the characters live. The fact that the suburbs are such a melting pot of ethnicity shows how poverty and hopelessness really extends beyond such barriers. This is shown perfectly through the coupling of the characters: a Jew, a black and an Arab. All of whom are equal as they are united within the same social boundaries.

Throughout the film, there are hints at the world beyond the suburbs; in a shot where the characters are looking at the Eiffel Tower it seems miles away from the world they inhabit - a romanticised tourist face of Paris, faraway and unattainable to them.

The characters are taunted by the perverse irony of a billboard stating: “The World Is Yours”. Like so many others in their situation, they have no future, no ambition and no real life. They even deface the billboard in an act of futile vandalism, changing it to “The World Is Ours”.

There are some beautiful standout shots used within the film, namely a tracking shot moving through the rooftops of the suburbs, which could only have been filmed with a helicopter. The use of handheld generates a feeling of disorientation and helps to put the viewer right in amongst the action, giving the film a gritty and realistic feel to it.

The fact that it is shot in black-and-white (a decision taken by Kassovitz in post-production) really does enhance the general bleakness of the film, and gives a certain uniqueness that separates it from anything of that time. In the opening scene, real black-and-white footage of riots is used, which, through the cinematography of the film itself, bleeds into the narrative, giving the film historical positioning and, more importantly, purpose.


A fantastically shot and wonderfully acted film flowing with emotion that grips you until the very end. AH