MOVIES
Run Lola Run Is Still Exhilarating 25 Years Later
On Rewatching the Film Upon Its Return to Theaters
Recently, Run Lola Run (the English title for the German film Lola Rennt, literally “Lola Runs”) returned to theaters in honor of its 25th anniversary. As I sat in the darkening theater, I eagerly waited to see one of my all-time favorite movies for the first time on the big screen.
When Run Lola Run premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1998, it received critical acclaim and went on to collect accolades at a number of other festivals, including the Audience Award at Sundance and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, among others.
The mid ’90s to early 2000s were a kind of Golden Age for indie movies, with filmmakers being able to make innovative, impactful movies on the cheap, submit them to film festivals, and gain financial success. Directors like Kevin Smith (Clerks in 1994), Quentin Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs in 1992), Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides in 1999), and Darren Aronofsky (Pi in 1998) launched their careers on small indie projects.
These indie projects were further bolstered by a strong VHS and DVD market, with viewers discovering movies from around the world at their local video rental store — which is where I first…
