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  • Essay / Analyzing The Second Chance in Run, Lola, Run a Play Directed by Tom Tykwer

    In my 20 years of life, there are many moments that I wish I could undo or change. These changes would make my memories much easier to rethink. Simply changing the embarrassing, awkward, sad, or even infuriating moments would, in part, completely change the course of my life. However, even if we fail to revive a situation, that doesn't mean we don't have second chances. Furthermore, our second chances do not come with a complete overhaul but with a similar opportunity. Yet in Run Lola Run (1999), directed by Tom Tykwer, Lola somehow manages to get not only a second chance, but also a third chance at her happy ending. Essentially, the main theme of Run Lola Run is time; the lack of time and how much we can use the time. The first images of the film illustrate how time is a monster. The clock hands are spinning out of control. Continually, Lola's animated self darts into the monster's clock inches from its teeth, racing through time. This image makes me think of how time controls us, we don't control it. We are just pawns in a game of life and there are people who stand out along the way. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayThey take us further away from the lessons we are meant to learn or closer to our purpose and what we are meant to become. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and sometimes a time based reason. Everything in your life can turn out differently depending on the choices you make every second. I believe this is how Run Lola Run is constructed: for many of Lola's runs, she reaches a destination at a specific time and makes decisions accordingly that change her course. If you had the chance to go back in time, would you change your destiny? What would you do differently? What is your goal? For example, comparatively, Lola makes slight changes to the decisions she made in the race before the last one. These slight changes give Lola more time or set her back. During the last race, if Lola hadn't distracted one of the drivers, the man in the car wouldn't have crashed into a car full of gang members looking to find Manny with the money. Manni would not have bought more time to get his money back. Coincidentally, if Lola hadn't had her bike stolen in the first place, they wouldn't have found themselves in at least as extreme a situation of robbing banks and grocery stores. Lola could have gotten Manni back and he wouldn't have lost his money in the first place. The climactic scene of this clip is when Lola makes the decision to seize the guards' bank and report her father. Obviously, robbing a bank and stealing money can lead to serious consequences, like prison, but that doesn't stop Lola. She desperately needs to save Manni, even if it means betraying her father. It's like we're seeing a whole new side of Lola, she no longer cares about the consequences but about saving her loved one. The beginning of this scene (38:39) is filmed with a handheld camera by someone with unsteady hands. This device is used to convey one or two different themes 1. The sudden change from behind closed doors to imitate the couple being watched by a specific person. 2. To add a more dramatic effect to the interaction between the two, like in a soap opera. It seems like their conversation is straight out of a soap opera. However, I believe it is alittle of both. Even after Lola arrives at her father's office and discovers that he is having an affair, the camera movement therefore remains unstable as the view adds more suspense. The camera appears to simulate heavy breathing, then after the father slaps Lola, the camera movement begins to follow the action. Then, as Lola leaves her father's house, the security guard tells her: "we can't have everything." Now, Lola has a sudden change in attitude followed by taking the guard's gun and attacking her father. There is a sense of parallel montage or contrasting settings as we see Lola's past mistake from her previous run enter her new state of consciousness. The guard says "you don't know how to use this thing", the camera pans to the gun as Lola removes the safety lock. Throughout the film there are also series of montages or continuity montage patterns within a series of flashes. images used to tell a story. In this case, it’s the story of the people she meets; the woman on the sidewalk, the man on a bicycle and the woman in the office. This stylistic choice is used to show that Lola is not the only one seeking a perfect ending and that even though she changes her outcomes, she changes the other outcomes as well. Simulation of the butterfly effect which is a theory that a phenomenon in which a small disturbance in the initial state of a system results in large changes in subsequent conditions. Sustainably, the director contrasts the POV reactions on the Axis and the split frame to show the direction of the shot. That is, Lola running towards Manni with the money and Manni looking for Lola with the money before trying to drive the market up in the direction Manni and Lola are facing each other (50:30) contrasting to give the impression that Lola takes in Manni's ear. , telling him to wait for him. This shot is also shot in slow motion, thus manipulating time and suspense and we watch the minute hand move from 11:59 to 12:00. But, as Lola and Manni start running towards each other in slow motion with some relief, Manni is hit by the ambulance instead. The director cuts to Lola's reaction, the ball drops and back to Lola's reaction, following the action and suddenly everything jumps back in time. Sound is also an important element in Run Lola Run, sound in general helps to enhance the emotions of sight. parallel to the characters in the film. Run Lola Run almost never happens without sound, in every frame exquisite retro chase music during Lola's runs or even during her intense walks down the hallway. The background music gives us a feeling of intensity and determination. The retro tone further adds to Lola's personality. Lola is a girl dressed in skater clothes with red hair and is given a musical theme that contrasts well with her look. The music throughout the film also draws our attention to context. In an earlier scene, as Manni and Lola run from the cops, the song What a Difference a Day Makes, by Dinah Washington, plays in the background. “Twenty-four short hours. I brought the sun and the flowers. Where it rained. My yesterday was blue, darling. Today I am part of you, darling. My lonely nights are over, my darling. Since you said you were mine. The lyrics follow our theme of time, whether it's the lack of it or how life-changing events can happen in just seconds. These elements revolve around the theme of time and decision-making, how these moments dictate the outcome of our lives and the lessons we learn from them. During the last round, the song Wish by Thomas D. is played. The lyrics “.