Stillness in motion

Run Lola Run is a fast paced psychological thriller from director Tom Tykwer, dealing with the choices people make and their consequences.
Utilizing the same live action/ animation sequences seen in films such as “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” as well as the alternate endings of films like “Donnie Darko”, Run Lola Run centers on Lola’s desperate attempt to obtain money in time to save her boyfriend Manni from a ruthless business associate. The film is actually a series of three runs, each with a different end result not only for the main characters but also for the other characters in the film, whose lives take different courses as a result of her actions.
The movie uses the contrasts of fast paced movement interspersed with scenes of relative inaction to convey the underlying tension of the film; ironically, the most decisive moments of the film occur when Lola is standing still. When she is moving she is simply acting out the decision she has reached. Notable examples of this are the moment of decision when she must persuade her boyfriend to either not go through with a bank heist or choose to help him, or her actions on discovering her father's affair. Actually, the entire chain of events is set in motion at the beginning of the film by her decision to help her boyfriend obtain the money.
Movement in the film is also used to tell us something about the character herself. Through most of the film she runs from right to left. In psychological terms, this gives an impression of someone who, although unsure of what to do, is desperately determined to resolve the situation, and will do so going “against the grain”. When Lola is shown running towards the camera, it is mainly to reinforce the overall theme of a race against the clock. The in depth motion seems to drag out the time frame of the run, giving a sense of time running out, a conviction reinforced by close -up shots of the character's eyes focussed on a distant, seemingly unobtainable goal. This impression is enhanced by intercutting close up in depth camera shots with longer lateral ones to give the audience a sense of how far the character has to go to reach her goal.
Tom Tykwer’s portrayal of an average person caught up in a desperate situation, with all the action taking place in a span of twenty minutes, is reminiscent of a faster paced Hitchcock thriller.