Possibilities are aplenty

Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt, German 1998)

Continuing the trend of Sliding Door and Blind Chances, I ventured into a German movie (dubbed) about Lola, who has to run to her boyfriend in 20 minutes with 100,000 marks. Lola's boyfriend, a petty thief, gets into trouble when he accidentally leaves a stash a cash of thr amount in a train in the confusion of helping a vagabond and spotting some cops. He had earlier collected the cash from some gangsters involved in smuggling. Lola was earlier supposed to pick him up from their rendezvous with the money but her moped was stolen.

Lola starts running and the story goes in three possibilities, each affecting different people and their lives differently, all having different endings. Essentially she runs to her banker father workplace to find him with mistress/co-worker, she either leaves empty handed after discovering their illicit affair or kills him or misses him altogether because of certain obstructions along the way.

In the first ending, the boyfriend robs a supermarket. She joins him but is shot by the police. In the second ending, she reaches him with the money, but he is hit by a fire engine as he crosses the road to meet her. In the third ending, the boyfriend tracks down the vagabond and gets the cash. At the same time, Lola manages to win 100,000 marks at the casino!

The director manages to keep the surprise element intact, as the outcomes are all different. The film received over 26 awards the world over. It's an entertaining flick with a different angle, but nothing ground-shattering (to me—armchair critic)!

"Every question leads to another question, and finally, the answer leads you back to the same question."

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