DVD Review - Run Lola Run

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Site created 12/15/97.

review added: 1/5/00

Run Lola Run
1999 (1999) - Columbia TriStar

review by Todd Doogan of The Digital Bits

Enhanced for 16x9 TVs

Film Rating: A

Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/A-/B+

Specs and Features

81 mins, R, letterboxed widescreen (1.85:1) and full frame (1.33:1), 16x9 enhanced, dual-sided, single-layered, Amaray keep case packaging, commentary track with director Tom Tykwer and star Franka Potente, music video for I Believe by Franka Potente, 3 theatrical trailers (Run Lola Run, Dreamlife of Angels and Orlando), cast and crew bios, film-themed menu screens, scene access (28 chapters), languages: English and German (DD 5.1 & DD 2.0), subtitles: English and French, Close Captioned

One of 1999's most original and ingenious films is on DVD, and if you missed it in theaters, now's your chance. It is a great film - so good in fact that there's a definite chance you'll find this film in the Best Foreign Film category in this year's Oscar race. Basically, it's three versions of the same 20-minute event. The event? A girl named Lola (Franka Potente), with the reddest red hair you've ever seen, must race to save the life of her boyfriend. Can she come up with $100,000 in 20 minutes? And can she do it while also keeping herself and her boyfriend alive? Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no. The fun with the film is watching how each 20-minute piece changes.

Along with the MTV-styled violent editing, you get a thumping electronica soundtrack (with a chant by actress Potente) that varies in each of the "vignettes", and various film techniques (animation, 35mm, stills and video) melded together differently each time. It's all really well put together by director Tom Tykwer, and because it changes so much, it'll take a few viewings to piece everything together.

As a DVD Run Lola Run looks and sounds great. The film is German, and it includes dual versions of both the original German soundtrack and an English dub (the dub isn't very good even if it sounds great). The 5.1 booms and the 2.0 bangs - both are Dolby Digital, which is nice. The English subs are well placed and read fine. As for the picture quality, it's pretty good. It's an anamorphic transfer, and the colors are nice and crisp. You will notice a few source problems, like a mysterious blue line that runs vertically through a few "running" shots, but that's no fault of the disc. On the extras side, you get a commentary track with the director and the star that sheds a bit of light on the complications of shooting this film, along with a trailer and a music video for a song by Potente. The video has some clips and cameos from actors in the film, and it's a pretty cool song.

Run Lola Run is a real fine disc of a real fine film. I hope everyone who likes the kind of stuff I do checks it out. It's got just about everything genre fans want. Hurry on over to your local shop and pick this disc up, like quick.

Todd Doogan
todddoogan@thedigitalbits.com