Movie Maid
Crissa-Jean Chappell. Film Comment. New York: Sep/Oct 1999. Vol. 35, Iss. 5; pg. 4, 1 pgs. Copyright Film Society of Lincoln Center Sep/Oct 1999.
"Do YOU LOVE ME?" Lola wants to know. Her dim-witted boyfriend better mumble the correct response, because she's about to save his life. For twenty minutes, Lola (upcomer Franka Potente) will barrel her way across Berlin, searching for quick cash while an incessant techno beat blares in the background. German director-writer-musician Tom Tykwer opens his 81-minute musing on choice and chance with a quote from T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets." A pixilated blur of people bustle against the suburban landscape, never seeming to notice one another. The mockserious voiceover broods about man, "the most mysterious species on our planet." What is the human race? Where did it come from? Of course, these questions are posed by human beings, the only group capable of wondering ... or answering.
Some have chastised Run Lola Run for assuming "arthouse" pretensions, as if foreign films must always cater to the intellectual - or resort to self-indulgent navelgazing - because that's what stuffy Germans do, according to close-minded critics. Because the 34-year-old Tykwer makes use of a self-composed electronic score ("youth music") and accentuates visual gags to an exaggerated degree (including jump cuts, quick edits, instant replay, slo-mo, montage, and animation), he mustn't have anything to say. He's having too much fun.
Maybe this kneejerk response is true of recent overseas fare - Britain's Lock, Stock. and Two Smoking Barrels, Denmark's highly overrated Celebration, Austria's Funny Games - that garnered attention for nonconventional cinematography and narrative (without being half as intriguing as the UK's Trainspotting or our own Pulp Fiction). These films fashioned themselves as groundbreaking. Actually, they had more in common with Hollywood action pics or "pop" music, carefully composed to manipulate an audience response - base-level "shock value."
Lola's slim, what-if? plot, though hardly new (its strategies having been explored as long ago as the French New Wave, e.g., Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad), has tacked some modern spins on the old existential question concerning destiny (does it exist?), not just in terms of tricky camerawork or a cute, nonlinear reorganization of events, but a hidden subtext that speaks to a particular generation of disillusioned, rising middle-class kids who refuse to look backward.
Examine the token people who surround young Lola. There's Papa, wheeling and dealing in a high-power exec position, secretly unhappy with his destiny despite a fawning mistress and a comfortable income. There's Mama, sitting in front of a television that features a cartoon rendering of her punky, flame-haired daughter racing down the apartment stairs. Not that she'd notice - she's too busy talking astrology on the phone. Then, most interestingly, there are the nameless passersby who slam into Lola as she gallops against the clock: a bike-pedaling boy, a mean-spirited woman pushing a baby carriage. Tykwer hilariously flashforwards (three times) into distinct futures that alter whenever Lola whizzes past. One person is struck by cancer; another wins a lottery. It almost seems that Lola's flight is changing their course of history. Could something so simple create that enormous an impact? This smacks a little of Chaos Theory, the butterfly's demise in Australia that could cause a stock market collapse on Wall Street. It's an evocative idea: that every innocent choice, no matter how insignificant, can ignite a chain reaction of possible consequences.
The hypersurrealist setting, modem Berlin, worships tradition even as it heralds the fashionable and unorthodox. See Lola run smack into an ominous flock of nuns. As they part to allow her passage, we behold their black-and-white habits, their blank expressions aimed at Lola, the postmodern woman with a male movie hero's mission. Check out her crazy green gingham pants, the lacy bra peeking beneath her sweat-rimmed tank top, the Gothic tattoos on her muscular skin. This is - and isn't - our world, hints the director (who lends Lola the power to shatter glass with her high-pitched scream). This is our world through his epileptic camera ... and makes no claim to deny it. In fact, he accentuates it. We can't deny we're watching a movie. We, like Lola, are made of movies.
Is it even worth asking: Can we classify this mix of sound and image as a motion picture? Or is Lola a video game? (Not until the audience can control, as well as choose, the outcome. Which could happen very soon.) Is Lola a feature-length music. video? (Are music videos minimovies? In some cases, yes. Same with commercial; that tell a story.) If Lola is a movie, which genre applies? It contains elements of road movies, lovers-on-the-run, gangster robberies, and most obviously, action, one of the oldest movie formats (and the most stylized, a la Buster Keaton). Tykwer plays with action movie staples, like men crossing the street with a pane of glass. His world has its own rules and logic, layered over a foundation of cinematic reference. The old and new collide to create something that contains a little of both.
Lola might be a movie about movies one in which the protagonist evolves a kind of eerie sentience to alter her fate outside the godlike director's hands. In the animated stair sequence, Lola passes a nasty neighbor with a dog. The first time, she trips. The second time, she leaps over his leg. She also grows bolder in her approach to Papa - to the point where she develops an almost untroubled attitude: brandishing a gun and barking orders with the calm of someone who knows everything will be okay in the end. "I don't want to go," her thoughts sigh during a death sequence. So Tykwer backs up and gives her another chance to get it right ... until the resolution Lola trulv deserves is a happy one. In a world where our own existence is touted as accidental, could a movie character hope for more?
Crissa-Jean Chappell, film critic for the Miami Sun Post, is pursuing a Ph.D. in film theory at the University of Miami.
Mr. Cowlin here again. First, Crissa-Jean Chappell asks several questions:
- Can we classify this mix of sound and image as a motion picture? Or is Lola a video game?
- Is Lola a feature-length music video?
- If Lola is a movie, which genre applies?
Extra credit: As always, feel free to comment on the comments of your peers. Also, if you wish, you may answer the third question for extra credit.
1. The movie run lola run is a mix of sound and imgage as a motion picture becuse it also come in real life. It is also a vido game becuase some parts of the movie has a cartoon like vidoe game of lola running for help.
ReplyDelete2. Some parts of the movie can be music video but some can not becuause it has dialouge of other characters besides her.This movie also has other aspects of others flashbacks, and lolas flashbacks. the part where is can be a music video is when lola is running to manni over and over agian.While she is running there is music that can help to seem the movie is a music video.
3. Run Lola Run is a movie because its a story of a persons life and is also about others lifes. Thsi movie apllies to be a action movie and also be a romantic movie. The way it can be romantic is of the love between lola and manni and how lola is trying to help manni stay alive.
Question 1:
ReplyDeleteI think Lola is more like a video game than a movie, but a video game worth watching. This movie has many video game characteristics including speed, action, superpowers (most people cannot break glass with their voice), and ,of course, coming back to life. In a video game if you die you get another chance to redo what you did before, except this time do it right. Since Lola was killed in the first scene she was able to start over because she wants another chance to reach her goal (getting the money). When Manny was killed in the second scene she knew that she could redo what had just happened but this time with a better outcome. This is very similar to what happens in video games. If you don't win, you start over.
I understand that Run Lola Run is obviously a action oriented movie. It is based on action, movement and split-second decisions that change the fate of Lola and everyone else around her. There are obviously feelings in it that could classify it as a drama but only in the small scenes where Lola is asking Manni if he loves her and Manni is asking Lola about what she would do if he died. Even when Lola finds out about her father's affair and unhappiness with their family, it doesn't seem like it's very emotion-oriented. It's about what she's going to do next. The movie always seems to be looming ahead, leading the viewer to believe that something new and exciting is coming around the corner to put a twist in the plot line and change the entire movie. Such "surprises" are Manni encountering the homeless man and Lola deciding to rob the bank her father works at.
ReplyDeleteThat's the main reason I think this is completely an action movie. It's action based and the viewer is always thinking about what happened next and never about how the character feels. We want to know how Lola is going to deal with the problems she encounters, not how she feels about them.
1. I do think Lola is a video game. Lola has a certain amount of time to accomplish the goal of the game, in this case, the movie. Each time she does not succesfully achieve her goal, she dies and then is brought back to life to try to achieve her task again. Each time she comes back, she tries different things to sucessfully achieve her goal. This movie can be considered a videogame in those ways.
ReplyDeleteI think we can definitely classify this film as a motion picture. this film had humor, drama, action, it wasnt a multi-million dollar blockbuster, it was just a small independant german film, but it was still great. the mix of sound and images created the atmosphere for a true film; flashbacks, rewinds, and zoom mixed great with the throbbing techno beats, i can see how people can disagree with me, and say that this is not a motion picture, but i think you just have to watch the film's true beauty.
ReplyDeleteIf Lola were a movie, i think it would fall under the action genre, just because of the film editing. Lola is constantly running, jumping, shooting everything in sight, and i think that clearly justifies what an action movie should look like.
Question 2. I do not think that Lola is a feature-length music video. A music video tells a story through a song and everything being shown relates to the song. In this movie, the story isn't being told through the song, it's being told through the characters and their emotions. However, the music does add to the quality of the movie, keeping the audience interested and drawing us in. Music videos tell the story through the lyrics that the person is singing. In Run Lola Run, the story is shown more through the cinetaic effects and shots. Dialogue is one of the least important aspects of this movie.
ReplyDelete3. I think that if Lola was considered a movie it would be under the action genre. She has to fight to get the money. She also has to do illegal things to get what she wants. Lola will do whatever it takes to get the money to save her boyfriends life.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2:
ReplyDeleteI think the movie Run, Lola, Run can be considered a long music video. One reason is because the music syncs up with her actions. The upbeat German techno music helps create the mood that Lola is rushing and moving fast. Crissa-Jean Chappell also says that some music videos are like minimovies. This true for this film. I would consider this film three mini movies because there are three similar (but still different) stories in it. I think that in some scenes the music can overpower what Lola is doing. If Lola was running down the street I was focusing more on the music that was playing than the way she was running.
I don't even like the first two questions and how their posed. One, I could see how someone could see the plot of Run Lola Run as slightly video game based but that is true for many movies. There are numerous movies that just seem like it would be just as easy to make a video game on the movie than actually making the movie. And video games do use movies and television shows as the basis for their plot lines a lot of the time. It's not uncommmon. So I feel like Crissa Jean-Chappell asks the question like it's a bad thing. Like this movie should not be considered a movie because of the lack of dialogue and the apparant "redo" button after a failed mission. It's not a video game. It could be but it's not, I don't even really understand what she is getting at there. ALso there is such a thin line between video game and movie that it could go both ways.
ReplyDeleteThe movie is obviously a movie, but it almost seems like it's a portion of amovie missing a beginning and an end. It's a scene, not exactly a full length film.
Question 2. I think that Run, Lola, Run would be considered a feature-length music video. Throughout the whole movie, loud German techno music plays in the background of her every move. It's almost like her actions go along with the music, which is what usually happens in most music videos. Also, the music that director, Tom Tykwer, has chosen to play in the backgorund goes along with the emotions being felt throughout the storyline. For example, whenever Lola is running, the music playing in the background is upbeat, showing that this scene is meant to feel very fast paced. We can also say that Run, Lola, Run can be seen as a feature-length music video because throughout the movie I didn't just focus on either the acting or the music, I was able to focus my attention on both the music and the story because both went along so perfectly together, which is the same in music videos.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1. Run Lola Run does seem to have a video game feel to it. It is the same story, or "level", over and over again until she gets it right. She has three lives, as many video games give their players and everytime she goes through a "level", so to speak, she will do "try a new move" and events will turn out differently. She has to complete her task in a certain amount of time as well and if she doesn't...she loses. Although I do agree that Lola shares some of the same aspects that video games have, I wouldn't consider it a video game. In my eyes, it is a motion picture. It questions things that video games never do, such as what is the purpose of man and does destiny really exist? The audience can also connect with the characters on a deep emotional level. In a video game, the player is just focused on beating the game, making no connection to the characters and I don't think there is a connection to be made with the characters in a video game. Lola is a motion picture that just has cinematic decisions that can be compared to a video game.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3. If Run, Lola, Run was a movie then it would be an action type movie. The movie has a very fast-paced and suspenful plot which is common in many action movies. Also, Lola has to face many challenges/obstacles to get what she wants, which is obviously the money to save her boyfriend, Manni. A common theme in most action movies is murder/death and the use of weapons. Run, Lola, Run has both of these even if they aren't as extreme as they would normally be in other action movies.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3. Putting Run Lola Run into one genre is a hard task because there are just so many genres mixed into this one movie. Action/adventure could be used to desceribe all the running scenes,the robbery scenes and much of the movie. The scene with Dad and the woman he is leaving his family to be with cuts away from the action/adventure though. This part could be determined as romance because it is only about the emotion between them. It completely cuts away from the action with Lola. The fact that Lola can stop time and do things over almost has a sci-fi kind of feel to it only in that it is not a human abilty to do what she did.
ReplyDelete1. "A type of game existing as and controlled by software, usually run by a video game console or a computer, and played on a video terminal or television screen. Controlled by a paddle, joystick, joypad, mouse, keyboard, or a combination of any of these input devices" was a definition given by wiktionary for video game that I happened to agree with. Lola, however fits only one of the criteria provided, the movie is played on a "video terminal or television screen." Therefore Lola is quite certainly a motion picture.
ReplyDelete2. I think that Lola is definately a motion picture. A music video's purpose it to provide images that give added meaning to a song, and a movie is just the opposite. In a movie the music adds meaning to the images. I feel that the purpose of the music in Run Lola, Run is to add feeling and importance to the film, and not the other way around.
3. Lola could certainly be considered action, however I beleive that is is also somewhat surreal. Everything that is happening is beleivable, but it just doesn't seem to fit together. It's like a mismatched china set, sure all the dishes are lovely, and functional, but together they're just weird. It's the same when Manni gets run over by the ambulance. It makes sense that he could get hit by a car, and it seems perfectly fine that there would be an ambulance nearby, but for Manni to get run over by the ambulance is just not right.
Question one say ask, can we classify this mix of sound and image as a motion picture? Or is Lola a video game. This movie is defiantly a motion picture, because each character in the movie has emotions. Like when Lola saves the cop at near the end of the movie. Also most of the story in the movie better fits a motion picture than a video game.
ReplyDeleteQuestion two asks, is Lola a feature-length music video. I think Lola is not a feature- length music video. I think that they always have the music because Lola is always running. It would be really boring watching her running more than half the movie and nothing else is going on. So I think they put the music in to make the video better. I don’t think they made the video to make the video better.
Question three asks, if Lola is a movie, which genre applies? I do think Run Lola run is a movie. so think that it should be called an action film because there is a lot of action in the movie such as Lola running to get money or else her boyfriend will die.
The idea of 'Run Lola Run' being a video game actually occured to me as I was watching the film. The reason why I do not believe Lola cannot be a motion picture is because there is simply a lack of a plot. Instead, Lola was run by a 'mission' rather than a plot. Her mission was to save her boyfriend, and similar to a video game, the main character must face his/her mission to achieve a final goal. In addition, it almost seemed as if the characters in 'Run Lola Run' were already set in place, with a known goal and purpose. Other films usually involve a lot of character development, and the plot evolves as the film goes on. However, in Lola, the plot and characters were already set; it was just the viewer's job to watch the characters run though the plot. I pictured each run in Lola as one 'attempt' in a video game to save Manni. In a video game, the plot and characters are already set as well. The only major difference obviously is that the audience doesn't get to control the action.
ReplyDeleteIf I had to choose a genre for the movie Lola, it would be a mix of action, adventure, crime, and drama. There is really no other way to describe Lola, unless of course they were to create a new genre called Lola. Rather than being a complete action/adventure/crime/drama movie, Lola instead takes different elements of each category to make it into the fast-paced, action-filled, emotional film it is. Obviously, there were elemtns of action and crime with all of the running and the gun fights with the police and interactions with gang members. However, the film also had a deeper side to it, as it touched on humanity in the beginning of the film as it also dealt with human emotions of love and sorrow. I thought it was especially interesting the way Lola used cartoons and live action sequences. The brief scene in the beginning of the movie made Lola a unique expereince as well alongside the unique genre of the movie.
ReplyDelete1. Since there is a lack of character development in Run Lola Run, I feel that it could actually be classified as a mix of sound and image. Although it certainly has some motion picture characteristics, such as the conflicts between her and her father and also the situation between Lola and her boyfriend. But the entire movie is based on Lola striving to complete a "mission" in which German techno music plays through out the film, and that really makes it feel as though it is just a mixture of sound and image.
ReplyDelete(added to first part)
ReplyDeleteBut this film is really more of a video game rather than a motion picture because of her character, and what we don't know about her. We know what she needs and what she is going to do to get there, there isn't too much of a background story of her life because for this film it's unnecessary.
3. If given a genre, Lola would most definitely be Action and Drama. There's never a calm moment in the film besides one with her boyfriend. She is constantly running, and panicking about how she can fix what she has to do this time around. Even when she enters a calm and fancy casino, her appearance makes it dramatic. Her character and look clashes with every other person in the casino making everything seem off balance and tense. Not to mention her glass-shattering high pitched scream. Also, the music plays a big role with the action aspect of the film. While Lola is running to where ever she has to go, the beat of Hardcore techno follows along almost making her seem machine-like instead of a normal young woman.
ReplyDelete1. Lola reminds me of the movie Doom. Doom was a movie about a video game. The way the movie was structued and looked was like a video game. Lola is less like a video game than Doom, because it looks like a regular movie. However the story line follows one of a video game where you can restart the level in a game over and over.
ReplyDelete2. I do not agree that Lola is a 80 minute music video. The music just fits whats going on in the movie very well.
3. Lola is definetly a movie. I think it fits under the genre of action. Pretty much the whole movie is her running around robbing banks and supermarkets. There is some death too.