Tag Archives: Run Lola Run

I don’t think you have this under control anymore

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Diewelle_posterAh, school. Best days of your life. What’s strange is how you find the same sort of people and stories in every school: the ‘cool’ teacher, the misfit kid, the bullies, the couple who acted like they were practically married, the neo-fascistic school project that everyone in your class gets way too involved in, eventually leading to a violent showdown in a hall…

Yes, this week Lewis and I take a look at 2008’s The Wave (or Die Welle in Germany). Recommended by listener Jason Morgan, The Wave is a German film based on a social experiment from 1967. Ron Jones, a teacher in California, created a quasi-fascist group in a school to show how totalitarian beliefs can take root in Western society. The experiment had to be shut down as it proved too successful, with students taking the system much more seriously than Ron predicted.

The Wave transports the premise to modern-day Germany, and follows a group of typical teenagers during the course of the week-long experiment, showing how it changes them and the way they relate to each other and others outside the group.

Lewis and I found the idea of the film fascinating, but found the film as a whole a bit ‘TV movie’. Still, the performances are great and the idea has such power that there’s much to enjoy and find interesting.

Our Secret Sponsor for this week is yet ANOTHER Film Blog/Podcast. We’re fools to ourselves. Still, we recommend you check out Love Your Movies. You can follow them on @thedvdgen or read their blog at loveyourmovies.com.

If our review has piqued your interest in the film, you can buy The Wave DVD from Amazon by clicking here (and we get a little bit of cash if you do – thanks in advance)

Anyway, without further ado, let us present our feature presentation:

Click here to download and listen on your MP3 player of choice:

101 Films Podcast 060 – The Wave

Click below to subscribe on iTunes, join our RSS feed or follow us on Facebook and Twitter:

We’d love to hear your own film recommendations – please get in touch at 101filmsyoushouldhaveseen@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog. Feel free to say nice things about us on iTunes!

Director: Dennis Gansel  Year of release: 2008  Studio/Distributor: Rat Pack Filmproduktion  Country: Germany

Podcast 060: The Wave (Die Welle)

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This week’s film, The Wave, is a disturbing look at how autocratic and fascistic ideas can take hold in modern society. Not the easiest of subjects for a lighthearted film podcast, so Lewis and Ian are a bit more series than usual. Don’t worry though, there’s enough ramble-y nonsense for you regular listeners.

101 Films Podcast 060 – The Wave

Run Lola Run provokes wave of nineties nostalgia

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Run Lola Run posterAfter a two-week break we’re back, back, BACK with a look at the classic German flick Run Lola Run (thanks to @msrainbowfudge for the recommendation). Our apologies for the lateness of this podcast – regular readers will know that we usually post every Thursday, but Ian ‘forgot’ to put up the podcast last night. Yet another black mark against his hitherto good name – rest assured he will be given an interview without coffee by his superior at the earliest opportunity.

Run Lola Run is the second German film to grace our list of 101 after Downfall, but it couldn’t be more different in style. Although now I’m imagining Downfall done in the style of Run Lola Run, and it seems strangely appealing – imagine Hitler’s last days played out in three separate scenarios, each with subtle differences that enormously affect the outcome. Maybe in one version he doesn’t shoot the dog, which is then subsequently adopted by Churchill? You know, this might just work…

Anyway, as you’ve probably gathered, Run Lola Run occupies that tiniest of film niches dedicated to “What if?…” scenarios – the film documents the same story in three different alternative realities in which a very tiny change has enormous consequences for the outcome. It’s a clever film and it must have been a real challenge to make – getting the continuity right must have been an enormous headache for all concerned. The result is a fast-paced and frenetic bit of film-making (the average shot length is 2.7 seconds) that perhaps doesn’t quite break the boundaries of greatness, but is nevertheless a thoroughly entertaining and worthwhile watch. Also, it made us incredibly nostalgic for the nineties – when are checked trousers going to come back into fashion?

Last but not least, our Secret Sponsor for this week is @EarsARinging – check out his blog at http://earsaringing.blogspot.co.uk/.

If our review has piqued your interest in the film, you can buy the Run Lola Run DVD from Amazon by clicking here (and we get a little bit of cash if you do – thanks in advance).

Anyway, without further ado, let us present our feature presentation:

Click here to download and listen on your MP3 player of choice:

101 Films Podcast 043 – Run Lola Run

Click below to subscribe on iTunes, join our RSS feed or follow us on Facebook and Twitter:

We’d love to hear your own film recommendations – please get in touch at 101filmsyoushouldhaveseen@gmail.com or leave a comment on the blog. Feel free to say nice things about us on iTunes!

Director: Tom Tykwer  Year of release: 1998 Studio/Distributor: X-Filme Creative Pool/Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)/Arte Country: Germany