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Run Lola Run
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - Australia - Umbrella Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James-Masaki Ryan (28th February 2022). |
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The Film
 "Run Lola Run" ("Lola rennt") (1998) Lola (played by Franka Potente) receives a call from her boyfriend Manni (played by Moritz Bleibtreu), who is panicking about a delivery gone wrong. His bag filled with DM100,000 which is supposed to be delivered to mob boss Ronnie (played by Heino Ferch) was accidentally left on the train. There is only twenty minutes left until the scheduled dropoff, and if the money isn't there, he is certain that he would be killed. With Lola's moped being stolen and without a vehicle or enough cash at hand, she decides t run on foot the bank where her father (played by Herbert Knaup) works to persuade him for the money. But will she be able to get the cash and deliver it on time? Or will there be a different fate for her and Manni? Filmmaker Tom Tykwer had an image of a young woman with red hair running down the street in a dream. From there the ideas of why she was running and the events of her surroundings evolved into the story for "Run Lola Run", an existential high octane thriller that was equally commercial as it was experimental in its structure and style. The main story itself is only about twenty minutes long. The time between Lola getting the call and her meeting Manni is played in real time in a standard linear structure. But the creativity of the film comes from the structure after the initial twenty minutes, which plays like a take on "Rashomon", by seeing three versions of the story played out with minor differences making different consequences. While "Rashomon" had differing viewpoints of the same event told in flashback form, "Run Lola Run" is similar to the groundbreaking Polish film "Blind Chance", asking the question of "What if a different choice was made?" in multiple situations. A multiverse film before the concept of the multiverse entered the minds of most people, "Run Lola Run" is one of the most brilliantly calculated and stylish of films of the genre. The film plays with the idea of how choices and timings could ultimately change the course of fate, no matter how minute the detail. There are the initial happenings prior to the phone call: Lola's moped being stolen and in turn, Lola not being able to give Manni a ride at their initial meeting point. If she hadn't stopped, she may have not had her moped stolen. Later, everything from how she runs down the stairs, the people she bumps or almost bumps into have differing reactions and happenings depending on the situation. A woman may end up having her child taken away from her or winning the lottery. A bank worker may end up killing herself or having a nice as well as kinky relationship with a coworker. Tykwer uses a quick and flashy way of conveying the future events of other minor characters through the use of polaroids in these situations, so they do not hinder on the main story of Lola's journey to get the money and save Manni. The twenty minute event of Lola's run is basically played out three times in succession - each with a differing outcome for the couple and the people they encounter. Some happenings repeat while others have drastic changes and consequences for better or worse. Visually and aurally, the film is heavily inspired by MTV and the period, from the visual choices of colors, editing, camerawork, as well as using multiple media formats. There are two visual patterns in the film - vivid 35mm sequences and gritty digital video sequences. Any scenes featuring the views of the leads Lola and Manni are shot on 35mm film. Anytime the films shows moments that the two characters are not present, they are shot on standard definition digital video. In addition, the DV scenes are usually in a raw handheld style of shooting, rather than the smoother Steadicam operated 35mm sequences. The choice here is not exactly the most effective, but it was an interesting experiemental choice at the time to combine the two formats into one piece, though DV sequences are very minimal, at only about 10% of the time at best. In addition, the sequence of Lola running down the stairs after the phone call is done with creative hand drawn animation, creating a hyper-reality for the audience for the rest of the time which cuts back to live action. Shots range from incredibly far overhead shots to creative tracking shots of Lola throughout the city of Berlin in a short amount of time. The visuals are aided with the thumping electronic soundtrack with cues by Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, as well as Tykwer himself, along with vocal cues sung by Potente. The beats sync with the action and the editing, creating the MTV inspired marriage of visuals and sound that works perfectly well together throughout the feature. Franka Potente's performance as Lola is easily one of the most iconic characters in all of German cinema with her visually unique look with bright red unwashed hair, tattoos, light blue crop top shirt, green pants, and laced black boots. Another unusual hyper-real character trait was her insane piercing scream which would shatter any glass that would be within the area, similar to the tone of young Oskar in the influential German classic "The Tin Drum" (1979). Her look, her attitude, as well as her actions are captivating throughout, and when her heart is broken in the multiple situations, the audience truly feels for her pain. The supporting cast were an impressive roster of well known television and film actors in Germany in smaller parts. Monica Bleibtreu, Moritz Bleibtreu's real life mother makes a cameo appearance as the blind woman. Nina Petri plays the woman having an affair with Lola's father. Ludger Pistor plays Mr. Meier whose car doesn't have the best of luck in any situation, just to name a few. For a film that had a very small budget of about US$2 million, the film had an impressive cast for German audiences who would have recognized almost every face, except possibly for Potente, which this was only her second feature film. "Run Lola Run" opened in Germany on August 20th, 1998. With very positive word of mouth and high praise, the film broke all expectations becoming the highest grossing film in Germany that year with US$13.8 million. The film played at various festivals throughout 1998 and 1999, and became a major arthouse crossover hit in many countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and elsewhere, in which the references to Lola's journey would be parodied and homaged in everything from television commercials to music videos to "The Simpsons". The Nintendo 64 game "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mark" took inspiration from the idea of repeated events, which was acknowledged by game director Eiji Aonuma. The film received an official remake in February 2022 with the Hindi language Looop Lapeta by Netflix. The film was also a major awards winner, with seven wins at the German Film Awards in 1999, and numerous other wins and nominations internationally. The soundtrack was also a hit, with "Believe" being a club hit. The film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray in various editions in different countries, and here it is now issued by Umbrella Entertainment on Blu-ray. Note this is a region ALL Blu-ray
Video
Umbrella Entertainment presents the film in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio in 1080p AVC MPEG-4. The HD transfer comes from Sony Pictures in preparation for their initial Blu-ray release back in 2008. The transfer is a dated one so there are some weaknesses to the overall image, though it looks good for the most part. Colors are saturated and have a slightly dark tone, with the vibrant colors of Lola's iconic hair and wardrobe looking fair but not as strong as one might expect. Skin tones are also a bit dark and white levels are not as bright as a modern transfer would be. In addition, there is quite a bit of film grain to be seen on screen which does seem naturally filmlike, but there are also some digital artifacts to be found as well. Shot with a combination of 35mm film and standard definiton digital video for differing scenes, the digital video portions suffer the most. Rather than going back to the original DV source for the transfer, it seems the sequences came from the finished 35mm film print so there are both digital video issues with detail and definition along with film related issues with grain and lack of sharpness from a secondary source. In addition, there are some minor speckles and dust visible at times as well as weaving of colors. The film would certainly use a 4K restoration to clean up the film as well as retransferring the DV portions directly from the original source materials, but for now the current transfer is the best there is. It's an imperfect one as audiences have been spoiled by 4K restoration transfers, though on a positive point it is much better than the older DVD transfers and have no major damage or transfer issues to hinder the viewing experience. The film's runtime is 79:49.
Audio
German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo Although almost every release of the film on DVD and Blu-ray has sported a 5.1 mix, but unfortunately the Umbrella Blu-ray only has a 2.0 stereo mix. As the film features an enveloping soundtrack with the electronic music cues and a number of surround effects from cars, gunfire and more, this is a lossless track that doesn't give the film its due. The older DVD and Blu-ray 5.1 mixes made use of the surrounds incredibly well, and it's unfortunate the same was not included here on this new Blu-ray. On the positive side, the balance between dialogue, music and effects is great, with voices sounding clear throughout as well as the thumping soundtrack. There are no issues of dropout or other errors to speak of. There are optional English HoH subtitles in a white font for the film. Hard-of-Hearing subtitles should never be the default for foreign language films, as they not only translate the dialogue but also add sound effects and speaker names. Unfortunately here, HoH is the only option for subtitles. On the plus side, the number of times that the film uses HoH captions is minimal. The subtitles are clear and easy to read and there are no issues of spelling or grammar errors to be found.
Extras
Audio commentary with director/writer/co-composer Tom Tykwer, and actress Franka Potente In this track, Tykwer and Potente discuss the making of the film with lot of detail on the production process. Tykwer talks a lot about the technical aspects, such as using animation in the opening sequence, the creation of the title cards and end credits, the reason to use film and video formats in certain scenes, the film's influences, the difficulties in logistics, and much more. On the other hand, Potente has a lot to say about her character and the difficulties such as practicing running as a non-athletic person herself, notes about the other performers in the film, the wardrobe choices and more. The two are recorded together and speaking their non-native tongue in English for this commentary track, but both are fluent and speak very well here and is definitely worth a listen. Note this was originally recorded for the 1999 Columbia Tristar DVD release. in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles "Still Running" featurette (16:58) This tenth anniversary retrospective featurette from 2008 features interviews with Tykwer and Potente recalling the making of the film. Some of the material repeats from the original commentary track, but in addition this featurette also includes clips from the film, behind the scenes footage, comparison shots of the three different timelines, and more as well as the newly shot interview footage. In addition there are some interesting annecdotes about the music composed, the iconic hair and fashion, the screaming rehearsals and more. The film clips are in German with burned-in subtitles, while all the interview portions are in English. Note this was originally available on the 2008 Sony Blu-ray release. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in English Dolby Digital 2.0 without subtitles US Theatrical Trailer (1:24) The original American trailer from Sony Pictures which sells the fast paced nature of the film, without including any dialogue scenes but with many critics quotes onscreen. in 1080p AVC MPEG-4, in 1.78:1, in Dolby Digital 2.0 with English text While the above extras are of good quality, there is more available elsewhere. The original music videos featuring Potente which were on various DVDs and Blu-rays over the years are no carried over. In addition, Germany produced a nice special edition in 2011 which included a new 40 minute documentary, two new commentaries from Tykwer and the crew, all in German without subtitles. The music video for "Believe", which is not included on this edition. In addition, here are two music videos that took inspiration from "Run Lola Run" "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi "Walk Me to the Bridge" music video by Manic Street Preachers
Packaging
This is #5 is the "World Cinema" series from Umbrella Entertainment, which includes a slipcase in a uniform style. The keep case inlay has original English and German poster artwork. The packaging states region B only, but the disc is in fact region ALL.
Overall
"Run Lola Run" is a quick paced and highly entertaining piece that has not lost any of its charm since its initial release. The brisk pace, stylish visuals and music are great examples of an experimental film that truly shined at the time and continues to inspire. The Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray is a bit of a hit and miss unfortunately. The transfer is dated, the audio is downgraded to 2.0 stereo, and the extras are fewer than the already available Blu-rays from other territories.
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