Chasing Lola Through Berlin
Director Tom Tykwer was only 33 when he wrapped Run Lola Run in 1998 and saw it beat Das Boot's box office take to become the biggest grossing German film in history (though it's since been outdone by The Lives of Others). Its low-budget, grungy aesthetics and snappy energy made it the Trainspotting of post-reunification Germany, a signature film that (for once) featured a Berlin where the Wall and the Nazis were irrelevant -- i.e., the sort of film that doesn't usually get an audience outside Germany. Well here's our recap, a few of the film's locations, and some resources for aspiring Lolas.
To recap: ordinary Berlin girl Lola has twenty minutes to get 100,000 marks to her drug-courier boyfriend Manni, who's lost a bag of cash on the subway and will now be executed by his boss. If she doesn't reach him in time, he'll rob a convenience store. Her scooter has been stolen, so she takes off on foot in a desperate race against time with a frenetic techno soundtrack. The innovative plot presses rewind and re-runs twice, each time spinning out a different destiny for Lola and Manni, the story altered by a chance -- a trip, a jump, a few seconds lost, and everything is altered.
Ponyclub
Kopernikusstraße 13
10245 Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany
Lola's bright red locks started a minitrend citywide, although in a town with as strong a punk culture as Berlin, there was nothing novel about her look. The Ponyclub … hair salon in Friedrichshain can probably help out if you don't want to do the bleaching and dyeing yourself, but beware -- it's a high maintenance look. Potente didn't wash her hair once throughout filming in order to maintain the crayola color. Nice. [link]
Core Tex
Oranienstraße 3
10997 Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
Spare a thought for Franka Potente's feet. The actress spent 7 weeks of 18-hour days chasing around Berlin in heavy, unforgiving Doc Martens -- this was the 1990s, after … all. They've fallen from grace in the mainstream now, and the old Berlin DM shop has closed -- a 2007 Lola would wear Nikes -- but you can still buy a pair of stompers at Core Tex in Kreuzberg, a giant emporia for all things punk. [link]
Casino Berlin
Alexanderplatz
10178 Mitte, Berlin, Germany
In the third loop of the story, Lola wins the cash at a casino that is -- inexplicably -- full of posh old Germans in evening dress in the middle of the day. That scene … was shot in the Zeughaus, which is now the Deutsches Historisches Museum. But if you want to gamble away your euros, you can go to the 37th floor of the Park Hotel in Alexanderplatz, where the Casino Berlin offers gobsmacking views across the city and ten roulette wheels for spinning. [link]
Spar
Tauroggenerstrasse and Osnabrückerstrasse, 10589 Berlin
When Manni panics and decides to take drastic action, he charges into this market on the southwest corner of Tauroggenerstrasse and Osnabrückerstrasse with a gun in his … hand and the crazy idea that they'll have 100,000 marks in the tills. Let's just say his optimism doesn't pay off. [link]
Lola's Home
Albrechtstraße 13
10117 Mitte, Berlin, Germany
Lola lives with her mom and papa in an old apartment block in Mitte by the Berliner Ensemble theater, Albrechstrasse 13. In order to get to Manni in Western … Charlottenburg she runs east down Linienstrasse, then falls through a wormhole and reappears a mile or so away, south of the Spree. It's not just time that's flexible in this movie -- Lola's route from East to West is idiosyncratic to say the least. [link]
Oberbaumbrücke
Oberbaumbrücke
10997 Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
Lola went haring across this landmark bridge just five years after it had officially reopened. During the Cold War, the red-brick Gothic structure, completed in 1896, was … a check point between Soviet-sector Friedrichshain north of the Spree and American Kreuzberg in the south. Lola runs south to north under the U-bahn tracks before suddenly rounding a corner into central Mitte. [link]
Parkour @ Velodrom
Am Falkplatz
10437 Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany
If only Tom Tykwer knew about parkour, the practice of tracing your own path through an urban landscape, leaping, ducking, and diving with an economical grace. The … sport's godfather, David Belle, visited Berlin in 2006 to give a very tame indoor demo, but the city has its own tribe of traceurs who give monthly lessons for newcomers at the Velodrom. If you're serious about being a Lola for the 21st century, you might want to pop along for a few pointers on your saut de chat. [link]
