German Film Analysis - Movie Review Example

Run Lola Run German Film Analysis Run Lola Run is a 1998 German film that tends to break through typical German cinema rules while still espousing a large amount of such elements. The movie tends to espouse the evolution of German cinema in terms of its composition and how it tends to play out. This paper will look into how the movie has been construed in terms of film making elements so as to define the potent German cinematic elements found in the movie. The movie’s story deserves some attention especially when placed in context of contemporary cinematic stories from around the world. The movie is based on the story of Lola (played by Franka Potente) who is trying to find a hundred thousand marks that are needed to save her boyfriend’s life. Lola’s boyfriend, Manni (played by Moritz Bleibtreu) had extracted the money from his boss Ronnie who is a typical criminal and is expected to drop the money somewhere. However, Manni forgets the money on a train and the money is taken up by an old tramp. Lola must now race against time literally as she runs to save the money in order to save Manni’s life. Manni’s life will only be spared by Ronnie if Lola can find and bring the money to him by twelve noon. This particular form of cinematic story was purely experimental at the time that it was released but was later taken up by a number of cinematic traditions such as Hollywood. Run Lola Run’s director Tom Twyker declared that he was only interested in movies that had “openings, unresolved questions and experiments” along with hints of “chaos, chance, destiny or the unexpected”. Contemporary films such as Lock, Stock and Two Barrels (1998) and Run Lola Run were able to define a new film genre that was to inculcate a new cult following. Later flicks from this cult included titles such as The Transporter (2002), Chaos (2005) and numerous similar ventures. If the success of Run Lola Run is looked into carefully, it can be seen that the movie appealed to cult audiences’ more than regular audiences. One of the more distinctive aspects of German cinema has been its need to deal with a large amount of subcultures. Each of these subcultures are highly specialised with their own demands and needs and Run Lola Run signifies having to deal with these varied subcultures on a cinematic level. Another of the more noticeable elements of Run Lola Run is the use of bold visual styles along with the injection of a pop soundtrack with high beats. Again these trends can only be identified with German cinema from the time. These styles have been used intermittently in mainstream cinema around the world but have remained significant elements of European cinema especially German and Scandinavian cinema. This is all the more pronounced in terms of the strong soundtracks that are used to characterise films from these cinematic traditions. The reason is again to create an appeal for subcultures in these regions that respond to such music traditions (Bordwell & Thompson, 2004). Typically the opening of the film tends to define how the entire movie is laid out in terms of its protagonists, their backgrounds, the events that the movie would deal with etc. but all of this is absent in Run Lola Run. Instead, the audience has to deal with an absence of the protagonists as well an absence of the main plot when the film’s opening sequence commences. The opening sequence is also distinct in the sense that it contains two quotes from a German football coach known as Sepp Herberger. These quotes are respectively (Run Lola Run, 1998): “The ball is round, the game lasts 90 minutes, everything else is pure theory.” And (Run Lola Run, 1998): “After the game is before the game.” The narrative of the two quotes is delivered by Hand Paetsch, who is a well known and respected German narrator. This is again a typical German cinematic element since millions of Germans recognise his familiar voice from cartoon movies to blockbusters such as Run Lola Run. Another major element that tends to differentiate Run Lola Run and German cinema as a whole is how it is structured. The typical film structure consists of a closed narrative in which the film has a discernible start, middle and end. This allows the audience to easily follow the entire narrative without much of a problem. However, this technique is more or less characteristic of mainstream Hollywood movies (Davis, 2010). The narrative structure of Run Lola Run is structured in a strikingly different method. The film contains three different narratives that respond to three different sequences of events and endings for the movie. The standard narrative model is also characterised by a normal sequence of events in the beginning that is seen to be in equilibrium. This equilibrium is broken down by some event that takes the movie to its climax. The resolution of the climax leads to a restoration of normality which allows the viewer to reconnect to the original situation once more. However, the narrative structure of Run Lola Run interweaves three different narratives of three differing lengths that are initiated as Lola moves through the first narrative. Any small actions that Lola takes as she runs tend to modify the first narrative to produce the second and the third narrative. The first and the third narrative contain unhappy endings while the third narrative ends in a successful conclusion. The third narrative is the only one with a restoration of normality in the case of Run Lola Run. This is again characteristic of German cinema where audiences like to unravel mysteries as they are going through the narrative of the film. Another defining feature of Run Lola Run is the overall makeup of the characters. The main protagonist Lola is shown with little make up and tends to wear nothing more than a sweat shirt and running trousers as the entire movie proceeds. Moreover, there is little hint at the fragility of the heroine unlike other cinematic traditions where the heroine is portrayed as being fragile and “feminine”. The main protagonist of Run Lola Run is shown as being strong and capable of dealing with criminal elements as well as trying circumstances. The makeup has been kept as simple unlike other cinematic traditions where the heroine is doused with all the makeup available on set. Moreover, the wardrobe of the heroine is shown as being minimalistic unlike other cinematic traditions where the heroines always find time to change even if the scene is shot in the middle of nowhere (New England Vintage Film Society Inc., 2010). The inherent naturalism promoted by the wardrobe of the heroine in Run Lola Run signifies that the overall look and feel of characters is not as important in German cinema as elsewhere in other cinematic traditions. The management of time is another element that tends to differentiate German cinema. It is common for other cinematic traditions to use the 90 minutes of on screen time to represent a character’s entire lifetime but European cinema typically tends to limit the onscreen time to the now and the happening. The method in which Run Lola Run is organised is again a reminder to this fact since the onscreen narrative spins around the loss of the money and the subsequent events. The narrative spins around events that are happening in real time and the flashbacks stay true to this idea too. The flashbacks shown in Run Lola Run such as Lola remembering how she did not meet Manni are also from the current series of events and not from the distant pasts of the characters. This technique ensures that the narrative and the onscreen time are limited to the current events only. The use of limited flashbacks to narrate these events in the current scenario is again characteristic of the German cinematic tradition. Other rich cinematic elements used by Run Lola Run include the suppression of continuity editing in order to provoke the audience. The typical film relies exclusively on continuity editing to keep the audience’s focus in place so that narration is simpler and easier to understand. The use of jump cuts in Run Lola Run is also against the rules of conventional cinematic traditions where jump cuts are rarely utilised. Instead, in Run Lola Run the use of jump cuts is continuous and repeated to produce a certain kind of onscreen chaos and enigma that tends to envelope the audience. This is done to ensure that the audience is caught up trying to figure out what the onscreen representation is depicting and is again characteristic of certain European cinematic traditions such as German cinema. References Bordwell, D. & Thompson, K., 2004. Film Art: An Introduction. 7th ed. New York: Mc-Graw Hill. Chaos. 2005. [CD] Directed by Tony Giglio. United States of America: Capitol Films. Davis, R., 2010. Complete Guide to Film Scoring. 2nd ed. Berklee Press. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. 1998. [CD] Directed by Guy Ritchie. United Kingdom: The Steve Tisch Company. New England Vintage Film Society Inc., 2010. Playbills to Photoplays: Stage Performers Who Pioneered the Talkies. New York: Xlibris. Run Lola Run. 1998. [CD] Directed by Tom Twyker. Germany: X-Filme Creative Pool. The Transporter. 2002. [CD] Directed by Corey Yuen & Louis Leterrier. United Kingdom: Europa Corp. Read More