Lola has 20 minutes to get 100,000 Deutschmarks or her boyfriend will die. The film plays this situation 3 times from the same starting point, and it ends differently each time. Tom Tykwer's fast-moving experiment uses the repeats to argue that fate comes down to a matter of seconds.
Run Lola Run is a 1998 thriller and action film directed by Tom Tykwer. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative and 2 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Akira uses several of the same techniques.
Ending the film where it started, or with a scene that echoes the opening. The repeat shows what has changed, or suggests the cycle will keep going.
How this film uses it
Tykwer runs the same 20-minute scenario 3 times from the same starting point. In each loop, tiny differences in timing change how it ends. The thriller becomes a philosophical argument about how much of life depends on chance.
Where to see it
The film resetting after each run. Lola screams, the clock rewinds and she has to try the same impossible task again.
Building the story around a clear deadline the hero must beat. The time pressure and the obstacles grow with each scene until the climax.
How this film uses it
The 20-minute countdown plays out in the film's actual running time. Tykwer treats time like a physical thing that Lola has to run through. In every loop, the clock stays on screen and never gives her a break.
Where to see it
The opening pendulum and clock. Before Lola takes her first step, the ticking tells you that time is her real enemy.
Timing the cuts to the rhythm of the action or the music. The fast, precise editing gives a scene momentum you can almost feel physically.
How this film uses it
Tykwer cuts between Lola running, split-screens, animated sequences and freeze-frame glimpses of the future. The cutting matches the rhythm of her heartbeat. The editing itself keeps the film moving forward.
Where to see it
The rapid flash-forward sequences. Each stranger's future is shown as a series of still photographs, squeezed into a handful of frames.
Using animation, for a whole film or for short sequences inside live action, to make emotions hit harder. Drawn images can show inner feelings that realistic footage can't reach.
How this film uses it
Each loop begins with a brief animated Lola sprinting through a cartoon corridor. The switch to animation tells you the film sits somewhere between realism and pure abstract motion.
Where to see it
The animated Lola bounding down the staircase as the loop resets. The cartoon tells you that the rules of the real world are switched off for now.
Questions
Run Lola Run: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Run Lola Run use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Run Lola Run (1998): Circular Structure, Ticking Clock Structure, Kinetic Editing and Animation as Emotional Amplifier.
Who directed Run Lola Run?
Tom Tykwer directed Run Lola Run, released in 1998. CineCode also covers Cloud Atlas (2012).
What films are similar to Run Lola Run?
Films that share techniques with Run Lola Run include Akira (1988), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Whiplash (2014), Forrest Gump (1994).
