BRIC Event Review: RUN LOLA RUN with live score by THE BAYS
Run Lola Run is one of my favorite movies of all time. The 1998 German cult classic is one of the most thrilling films you will ever see with a buzzing soundtrack that rivets as much as its storyline. As Lola runs against time to save her man, three alternate stories are brewed in which the audience can decide their favorite as Lola’s fate.
There were a few highlights of the night that made everything feel so special, one of my favorites being Joan as Police Woman and Benjamin Lazar Davis. This experimental pop galore/group had everyone double in energy to watch Franka Potente as Lola. I had not heard of this band until that night but was massively impressed by their electric pop, mellow insanity. Their sound makes you feel like you have fallen into the most colorful version of The Twilight Zone: vibrant and eerie. I loved it and thought they were the perfect opening musical act for a film that is equally exuberant and twisted.
I had forgotten how exhilarating this film was until I had the pleasure to enjoy with with such a huge crowd. The film begins with Lola receiving a call from her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) that a homeless man has robbed the 100,000 dollars he was supposed to give to a gangster. Lola has twenty minutes to help him figure out how to get that money and not get killed. The film is divided into three scenarios that has the crowd cheering, laughing, and making humorosu commentary. The open air setting made everyone feel at ease to quip and treat each other like a massive family watching a movie together. Yet, the greatest sonic treat was having The Bays play the film’s excellent soundtrack, live.
The Run Lola Run soundtrack was an incredible hit and soundtrack because, like the film, it feels like a cartoonish time loop. The repetitious rhythms that make you believe, like Lola, that you are in a spiral of universes, it is very reflective of the film’s playfulness with reality. Time and space are fluid in Run Lola Run, and hearing The Bays play live escalated this element of the film by giving the audience a heart-pounding bassline. In the movie, one minute can make all the difference to a person’s life and future. It’s ability to approach something that we all feel is fascinating: time can either be a friend or a foe. The theme of Run Lola Run is as pulsating to your mind as hearing the Bays playing to a full crowd on a Brooklyn Night.
Seeing Run Lola Run on the big screen again reminded me of how rich and lasting a film it is. It is a funny, action packed psychological thriller that fully entertains you for 80 minutes. Luckily, BRIC is doing a similar event on August 10 for David Bowie’s Labyrinth with a live orchestra, The Donny McCaslin Group. The same group backed Bowie in his last album: Blackstar. Even better, the event is FREE. For More information Click Here.
