.png)
As is probably the case for all of us, for me music is a strong trigger. I can make a pretty good guess at when a song or album came out (or when I first heard it) by reliving the memories the music releases - usually where I was and how I was feeling at the time. The soundtrack to Lola rennt takes me back to the tumultuous two years that I spent in Austria in the late nineties. I was 19 when I went over, with all the bravados and (fragile) self confidence that only a teenager set loose on the far side of the world has. I thought I knew everything. Turns out I didn't, of course, but that's a story for a different time :-)
I chose this album as one of my top five for sentimental reasons, I guess you could say. It represents a huge and defining time in my life. The music is good, I genuinely enjoy it and, yes, I listen to it while running! Run Lola Run is one of my favourite movies. But I also appreciate the album for all the memories - good and bad - that it helps to keep alive.
I should say at this point that if you have not seen the movie, then you really should. Everything will make a lot more sense after that, especially the screaming and breaking glass bits. And for the love of any deity you hold dear, please watch it in German and use subtitles as required. The English dubbed version is not wonderful.
The story centres around Lola who has exactly twenty minutes come up with and execute a plan to save the hide of her boyfriend, Manni, who has royally f'ed up an criminal audition of sorts. The plan ends up involving a lot of running. Franke Potente, who plays Lola, is one very fit lady.
The film score was largely composed by its director, Tom Tywker, and is a frantic, relentless techno beat that rarely lets up or gives you a chance to catch your breath - as is appropriate for a movie about a girl with a serious deadline who is running flat out across Berlin. The music happens in 'real time'. Lola takes us and the music on each twenty minute run. The story is told three times. Each Running begins at a slightly different time - literally moments apart - but those few seconds quickly spiral out, leaving Lola and Manni in three very different places twenty minutes later.
The highlight of the album is track nine, Wish [Komm Zu Mir], which was released as a single and is performed by Franke Potente and German rapper, Thomas D. The three Runnings (and their interludes) are also good. For me, the remixes that fill out the final third of the album are neither here nor there, but are a good background soundtrack for me when I need to be energised but not distracted.
No comments:
Post a Comment