Rent Run Lola Run (1998)

Excellent film about different timelines / alternative realities - Run Lola Run review by RP

It's in German, with subtitles. But don't let that put you off - it's a rather good film about different timelines or alternative realities.

The film shows the same events happening three times, each with subtle changes and a different conclusion as Lola (Franka Potente, perhaps best known for her role in 'The Bourne Identity') attempts to raise 100,000 DM (the film was made before the introduction of the Euro) to save her boyfriend from the gangland baddies.

But this gangland plot about the boyfriend is secondary to the storyline about the changes that minor events bring, namely the subtle timing changes caused by Lola's encounter with a dog on the stairwell as she sets off running. And it is these minor timing changes that cause the sequence of events to change in small but very significant ways.

I've also recently seen and reviewed 'The Butterfly Effect' and the theme that small events can trigger future changes is common between the two. Another film with a similar theme is 'Sliding Doors', although there are only two alternative scenarios there.

'Run Lola Run' is excellent, and it has the added advantage of being short at only 76 minutes. 4/5 stars. Recommended.

[Aside: Lola's boyfriend Manni is played by Moritz Bleibtreu who played the central character Tarek Fahd in the psychological drama 'Das Experiment'.]

Rave, Repeat, Regret? - Run Lola Run review by griggs

Run Lola Run is a kinetic sugar rush of split-second choices and butterfly effects, blasted in pure late-’90s style. Think The Fifth Element meets Trainspotting with a dash of Sliding Doors—Berlin turned into a looping music video of fate, chance, and chaos. Franka Potente tears through the frame like a punk missile, and Tom Tykwer keeps the whole thing humming with breathless flair.

But watch it now, and the cracks show. All that once-groundbreaking editing? Feels like flashy gimmickry. The big existential questions? More philosophy 101 than profound. It’s stylish as hell, sure—but once the adrenaline wears off, there’s not much meat on the bones.

A fascinating time capsule of German angst and rave-era aesthetics—still fun, but less deep than it thinks.