Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) -- 1998 -- R

While it's kind of a dumb title (the literal translation of the German title is Lola Runs), the movie is far from that as it combines some animation with lots and lots of running by the title character.

This is a fast paced, energetic film, that follows a woman who has 20 minutes to get 100,000 Marks to her boyfriend (which she has to practically generate out of thin air) to pay off a mobster or he is going to rob a store across the street from where he is waiting for her. Why does she run? Well, she had a moped, but it was stolen, which caused her to be late picking up her boyfriend in the first place, which led him to take a subway. Well, he skipped off the subway when some cops got on, and he left the bag of 100,000 Marks on the seat, and it was stolen by a homeless guy. So if they don't get this 100,000 Marks to the mobster, he will kill the boyfriend. Lola runs through the people she knows to figure out where to get 100,000 Marks on a moments notice (cause that's a lot of money), and she decides to go ask daddy, the banker. Got that? So begins the run.

The movie follows three different storylines, each with a different outcome. We start Lola's run here as she she runs down the stairs of her building and encounters a man and his dog. This encounter is different in each of the three timelines, and sets off what happens in each version. Lola runs across a variety of people on her run, and the time and circumstances of her encounter with them determines how their life goes from there (which we get as a quick series of snapshots right after Lola runs past them). Once each timeline comes to its conclusion and we get the outcome, we get a quick character moment between Lola and her man before the timeline starts over, and we get another version of what could happen if...

This is a fascinating alternate timeline sort of film that is unrelenting in its pace and energy. You hit the ground running right off (literally) and it doesn't stop until the credits roll...backwards. It begs to be unique and succeeds rather well. Through the timelines, we learn things about the characters that we are able to use in understanding things in the other timelines, though the characters, of course, don't have this privilege.

The characters aren't overly developed here, and in fact, since the film feels like a supercharged short filmed three ways, the development is sufficient to carry us through the simple storyline. This film is a rare exception in that to care about the characters, minimal development is required. We get some info about them in the beginning and then intermediary segments, but nothing really indepth.

So we have a film that attacks us with so much energy that it insists we keep up with it as it charges through its alternative storylines at break neck speed. It's a clever study that worked very well.