If chaos theory could be incarnated in the form of a film, this would be it. I dig the hard driving techno soundtrack.

Google rules.

This is kind of OT, but whenever I watch a non-English film, I find myself trying to decide which title to use for the log entry. The original, or the English translation? Obviously, if a title contains characters that aren't on my keyboard, I go for the English translation. But what about titles like "Le Pact de Loups" and "Lola Rennt"? I guess the precedent set over the last couple months has been to use the original title. I may flip flop occassionally though.

In case anyone is wondering, yes, the name by which this movie is commonly referrred to in English is "Run Lola Run". The dialog is in German, but the music is in English. Go figure.

This film is one great big ball of fun. Cut and edited in hyper-kenetic motion to the breakbeat techno rhythms which form its pulse, the movie tells the stor(y|ies) of Lola's frenzied 20 minute quest to find 100,000 marks so she can keep her boyfriend from being killed.

The narrative pattern is a familiar one. Variations on the the "day repeating itself" theme have been done by many tv shows, movies, and probably other places that I don't know about. But somehow, the idea still hasn't gotten old, at least when it's done well.

The twist here is that unlike most variations I've seen, there is no one character who, vaguely or distinctly, "remembers" what's going to happen and consciously attempts to "fix" the outcome. In this film, it's same scene, over and over again, but with each iteration, nature's dice decide to take a slightly different random spin, bringing about a cascading domino effect which will dramatically alter the world.

Chronologically, the farther away from the "twist" you get, the more visible the change becomes. Where does the spark of destiny originate? Who knows! It could take nothing more that the fluxuation of a single molecule to bring about life or death; an alteration of human history as a whole. Brilliantly, the movie uses an animated "fantasy" sequence to portray this "spark" of randomness. The "seed", if you prefer that term.

Every edge-of-the-seat moment is focused on drawing attention to the utter randomness of every moment of life. Minimal time is spent developing any context outside the immediate present, because it isn't needed. The characters' backgrounds are irrelevant. The only details about how the prediciment came to be are a few essential facts, presented in a brief burst of montage flashbacks. Only enough to get the ball rolling. Nothing more. Perfect.

For some reason, it's often tempting to try to derive a "message" from movies, especially when the vision is as intriguing as this one. I generally consider myself to be of the school of thought which states that art need not express any specific moral conclusions. The artist's only complusion is to convey the world as perceived, without the necessity to arrive at any black-and-white, easily pigeonholed "message".

But since it's already been going through my mind, I'm going to go ahead and pigeonhole by putting out my interpretation of this movie's "message".

One could easily draw the conclusion that the philosophy conveyed in the movie is utterly fatalistic. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much determination Lola puts into her mission. No matter how hard she tries, or how fast she runs, the outcome is outside of her control. The factors which culminate to bring about the result are so vast, and so unknown, that she is essentially nothing more than the unwitting pawn of an intergalactic roulette table, symbolized nicely in the final act. The universe neither knows nor cares about her plight. But still she runs. How silly of her! Why bother to even take a single step, given all the difference it ultimately makes?

Upon further reflection, or looking at the other side of the coin, a conclusion completely opposite to the one above could be drawn. If every microsecond of existence is magnified to such paramount importance that a single moment of fluxuation changes the fate of a life, there is no time to not take action. If each second could potentially bring about the end of the world, mindful vigilance is crucial at all times. From this perspective, Lola's persistence is not in vain, and she is not a victim of fate. Her constant refusal to give up in the face of impossible odds makes her the hero of the story, no matter the ultimate outcome. I suppose that's the point.

...as I sit and wax philosophical...

"Jesus Christ, Bitscape! Can't you just sit down, munch on your popcorn, and enjoy the movie without going on an all-night tangent, exhaustively critiquing, and endlessly attempting to derive some greater 'meaning' from the sum of frames which flashed before your eyes?"

Obviously not. After writing this review, I'm bumping the overall from 3 1/2 to 4 stars, just 'cause. Now I get to dive into the commentary track. Yipee!