Achtung!...spoilers...
Technically, the piece is a bit of a marvel. The thing is packed with incredible shots and perspectives, some of them familiar from the work of others and some like nothing I've ever seen before. The shot with the nuns is just one that leaps to mind. In fact, some of the camera and editing techniques are the kind that you see in TV ads, when the producer is pulling out all the stops to catch your attention. It's definite fodder for those in film school, but it all kind of blurred together in my eyes after a while. Maybe it was too much. Maybe I just got tired after all of that stridency. The fact is that I've never had any use for MTV - the fact of its existence or the incredibly annoying stylistic hallmarks, like jerky camera movement and a succession of rapid cuts, that have always been integral to its broadcasts. And this is a film steeped in the MTV sensibility. Maybe post-MTV...whatever.
I began to suspect that this was not going to be a straight narrative when the cartoon Lola kicked in as she ran down the stairs and out of her home. Actually, the cartoon - changing each time, albeit quite subtly - is very fitting given that this whole movie has the look and feel of a video game. Methinks the producers and directors must've spent a lot of time playing such games, because it's apparent to me in everything from the cartoon sequence to her running around to pick up things that may be of use to the fact that she was given three lives' during which to reach her goal. I don't know about you, but I'd love to have the ability to do three re-takes of various situations within my life. That was a nice little twist, and the film is executed skillfully enough that the three different versions of reality each seem fresh and new. Trying to keep it so, yet retain temporal continuity, must have been a challenge. Then again, perhaps it wasn't all that much different than compiling the various takes normally required for any film, the only difference being that each take featured different dialog and action. Regardless, the whole was flawlessly executed. I definitely get the feeling that the postproduction staff pored over every frame of film at length, completing the vision that must have been firmly established during principal photography. Interesting use of DV in some places, too, to contrast the mood with that filmed on film stock. The use of "What a Difference A Day Makes" in one of the alternate-reality sequences was particularly effective, too, and a nice break from the overbearing techno' core.
In some ways this movie's all about action and less so involved with character. In particular, Lola's character is too busy running around to take the time to develop before us. Then again, Franka Potente was so good that we could sense much of her nature without anything overt being revealed, and the elements that comprise her life can be glimpsed in interactions with her father and others. And she can scream loudly, too.
In some ways this film irritated me. I'm not entirely sure why. Sure, those rapidly-cut explorations of the various futures of ancillary characters were interesting and kinda cool, but they also seemed to distract and detract from the film. To some extent I wasn't totally sympathetic with the characters, though Lola was basically appealing and I felt her anguish and rising panic. I was disappointed in the ending, actually - if I were Lola, I'd have decked that SOB Manni. On the bright side, Ms Potente must've really been in good shape by the time they finished filming this thing. I do really get into the big-effects-from-small-causes thing, too, because the truth of such things never fails to amaze me. And there's within a film a core conflict that's also explored in "Forrest Gump" - fate versus chance. Deterministic versus stochastic.
The bottom line for me is that it's a technically brilliant film, beautifully filmed, ingeniously plotted and twisted, and expertly acted...but it never really struck much of a chord with me where it really matters. I think it was great but it's never going to make it to my considerable list of favorite films, and certainly not among the ranks of films that I could watch over and over again. Maybe it was just too highly stylized. Maybe I'm destined to forever remain immune to the charms of art films.' Oh well...I'll always have "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure."
Technically, the piece is a bit of a marvel. The thing is packed with incredible shots and perspectives, some of them familiar from the work of others and some like nothing I've ever seen before. The shot with the nuns is just one that leaps to mind. In fact, some of the camera and editing techniques are the kind that you see in TV ads, when the producer is pulling out all the stops to catch your attention. It's definite fodder for those in film school, but it all kind of blurred together in my eyes after a while. Maybe it was too much. Maybe I just got tired after all of that stridency. The fact is that I've never had any use for MTV - the fact of its existence or the incredibly annoying stylistic hallmarks, like jerky camera movement and a succession of rapid cuts, that have always been integral to its broadcasts. And this is a film steeped in the MTV sensibility. Maybe post-MTV...whatever.
I began to suspect that this was not going to be a straight narrative when the cartoon Lola kicked in as she ran down the stairs and out of her home. Actually, the cartoon - changing each time, albeit quite subtly - is very fitting given that this whole movie has the look and feel of a video game. Methinks the producers and directors must've spent a lot of time playing such games, because it's apparent to me in everything from the cartoon sequence to her running around to pick up things that may be of use to the fact that she was given three lives' during which to reach her goal. I don't know about you, but I'd love to have the ability to do three re-takes of various situations within my life. That was a nice little twist, and the film is executed skillfully enough that the three different versions of reality each seem fresh and new. Trying to keep it so, yet retain temporal continuity, must have been a challenge. Then again, perhaps it wasn't all that much different than compiling the various takes normally required for any film, the only difference being that each take featured different dialog and action. Regardless, the whole was flawlessly executed. I definitely get the feeling that the postproduction staff pored over every frame of film at length, completing the vision that must have been firmly established during principal photography. Interesting use of DV in some places, too, to contrast the mood with that filmed on film stock. The use of "What a Difference A Day Makes" in one of the alternate-reality sequences was particularly effective, too, and a nice break from the overbearing techno' core.
In some ways this movie's all about action and less so involved with character. In particular, Lola's character is too busy running around to take the time to develop before us. Then again, Franka Potente was so good that we could sense much of her nature without anything overt being revealed, and the elements that comprise her life can be glimpsed in interactions with her father and others. And she can scream loudly, too.
In some ways this film irritated me. I'm not entirely sure why. Sure, those rapidly-cut explorations of the various futures of ancillary characters were interesting and kinda cool, but they also seemed to distract and detract from the film. To some extent I wasn't totally sympathetic with the characters, though Lola was basically appealing and I felt her anguish and rising panic. I was disappointed in the ending, actually - if I were Lola, I'd have decked that SOB Manni. On the bright side, Ms Potente must've really been in good shape by the time they finished filming this thing. I do really get into the big-effects-from-small-causes thing, too, because the truth of such things never fails to amaze me. And there's within a film a core conflict that's also explored in "Forrest Gump" - fate versus chance. Deterministic versus stochastic.
The bottom line for me is that it's a technically brilliant film, beautifully filmed, ingeniously plotted and twisted, and expertly acted...but it never really struck much of a chord with me where it really matters. I think it was great but it's never going to make it to my considerable list of favorite films, and certainly not among the ranks of films that I could watch over and over again. Maybe it was just too highly stylized. Maybe I'm destined to forever remain immune to the charms of art films.' Oh well...I'll always have "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure."