Run Lola Run - FOW

 

 Run Lola Run

‘Run Lola Run’ is the third film from Tom Tykwer, and unlike many German films in recent years, it managed to find both critical and commercial success around the world. It’s the bold visual style and thumping pop soundtrack, combined with an innovative narrative make it a fresh, exciting text with a number of areas of great interest.

Set in Berlin, the film concentrates its attention on Lola (Franka Potente), as she tries desperately to find the 100,000 marks needed to save her boyfriend’s life.

RECURRING MOTIFS

The iconography and motifs in a film are used to communicate information to the audience about characters and emotion without having to use dialogue. They act as a shorthand for the filmmaker, and because audiences are experienced viewers of film and television, they can make sense of images very easily. Iconography is particularly important in genres such as westerns and science fiction, for they have common images that mean audiences can identify what sort of film they are watching. If you were to turn on your television and see a shot of a saloon with horses tied up outside you would immediately recognise the film as being a western.

Question

What genres do you recognise in ‘Run Lola Run’? Note as much evidence as you can to support your claims.

Main:

·       Action – Due to the title of the film “Run” suggests lots of movement and drama.

·      Drama – Due to the first couples of scenes in the movie it starts off being very chaotic as the protagonists and her boyfriend start off with a mission. This increase tension which hits kind of the high rise in the narrative structure

    Thriller – Due to all the accident and all the costume makeup, it included blood and other horrifying actions.

·      Romance – relationship, due to the red scenes, and there are cracks in their relationship.

Motifs are images that appear throughout a film and carry with them meaning to do with the narrative. Among the motifs apparent in ‘Run Lola Run’ is the colour red, which is used frequently. Lola herself has red hair, which signifies that she is a powerful, charismatic character, who stands out from everybody else. The colour red has several meanings attached to it, such as danger, warning and love, and so it is clear that the filmmaker has chosen to use that particular colour for a reason.

Motifs:

-        Clock - time

-        Red phone symbolizes

-        Use of glass and reflection – when she screams every glass breaks.

 

Question

On what other occasions does the colour red appear? What do you think the colour connotes? Can you find any other motifs that reappear throughout the film? What meanings would you attach to these motifs?

·       Black and white

·       Coloured hue scenes

FLASHBACKS

The early stages of the film rely heavily on the flashback sequences that reveal how Lola came to be late meeting Manni, and how Manni came to lose the bag of money. Combined with the dialogue of the two characters the scenes communicate a great deal of information and carry more weight than if we had just heard the dialogue. The flashback sequence in which Manni leaves the bag on the train is extremely effective in communicating the feeling of disbelief, concern and powerlessness that both characters are feeling at that time.

The reason these flashback sequences are so necessary is that without them the audience would not be able to learn enough about the characters to really care for them. It is interesting that these are the only flashbacks used in the entire film.

Question

What information is communicated through the flashback sequences? What do we learn about Manni and Lola?

-        Their relationship is rather overly complicated and in some ways kind of toxic as I think they use each other for themselves.

-        Red scenes are flashbacks

-        Mani with the money robbing shows the downfall of their relationship as Lola agrees to help him.

-        The flashback is in black and white and red scenes.

-        Red scenes help us understand their relationship. Which makes the audience feel for the audience?

-        The scenarios of Lola on every scenario makes her more aggressive, which shows she’s more determined.

FLASH-FORWARDS

Among the most interesting aspects of ‘Run Lola Run’ are the flash-forwards, which are not at all common in mainstream texts. Whereas the flashbacks are used to communicate details of narrative importance, the flash-forwards do not add anything to the narrative at all. They do not deal with any of the principal characters, and so it could be argued that they serve no function to the film.

It is important not to underestimate the value of the flash-forwards in ‘Run Lola Run’, for although they each only last for a brief moment and do not deal with either Lola or Manni, we are somehow made to care for the characters they portray. We have no knowledge of their backgrounds yet the quick sequence of still images presents to us their lives and generates an emotional response from the audience, be it laughter or sadness.

Question

Think about the flash-forwards used in the film. How do they relate to the rest of the film? What feelings did they provoke in you?

 

-        Flashforwards are the other different characters, which shows what will happen to them.

-        Each of the flash-forward of different characters has developed differently as every little thing can change their life’s.

-        This helps the audience to feel and makes them understand the film in depth.

 Colour theories

-     Red: symbolises the scene to be extreme. It is the colour of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure. Associates today arises from its powerful past.

-        Her hair is also red.

-        Phone – symbolizes the end of destruction.

-        The background colour seems to be very plain, basic, and ultimately of the neutral colour like white or brown or grey.  This helps the audience to focus more on Lola.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

What you like most? Justify your choice.

Your favourite camera shot/angle (time code)? Justify your choice.

Marks out of 10? Justify your choice

-        The camera movement

-        The sound

-        The editing

 

Mise-en scene:

-        The props really show what the character’s like

-        Red hair, light green pants, and blue shoes

-        The room is very messy

-        Phone - zoomed