a movie for valentine's day cynics
when run lola run first hit american theaters in 1998 it played at the local arthouse theater around the corner and two blocks down from my house. my friend worked for another neighborhood theater and had guest pass privileges, but i deigned to join him on opening night (yes, even despite the free popcorn and lemonade i could've gotten hooked up with). later another friend won free passes and again i declined to see the movie. basically, it was so hyped that i assumed it would be a let down. that happened all the time with movies at that particular theater. it was like all critical viewing capacities would shut down and people would just assume foreign meant sophisticated or intelligent or something (which i can assure you is a fallacy). anyway, i didn't see it until 2005 or 2006, and when i did it was only because a housemate had rented the dvd for movie night.
i'm not sure if it's a shame or not. i mean, when i finally watched it i instantly fell in love with it. but perhaps i wouldn't have appreciated it if i'd watched it those eight or so years before--a point made particularly salient by one of the themes of the movie: timing matters. if you haven't seen the movie, by way of explanation i will offer this: lola makes a series of decisions and actions in an attempt to save her boyfriend's life. the movie goes through three versions of the same story and in each the outcome is altered by seemingly tiny details.
i liked that theme, but i also liked the pacing of the film overall, the frenetic production values, the character development, the storyline(s), and the general "feel." i'm sure there's more than that to what i liked, but i saw it only once those couple years ago, so that's pretty much what i have to say about it for now.
except, this part that i saved till the end: run lola run is one of the only movies made in the 90s that made me think deeply about the role romantic love plays in my life. for this, it is a masterpiece regardless of anything else i liked about it.