Director: Tom Twyker  Germany  1999   81 minutes  Crime/Drama

This was the first film ever shown by Occasional cinema (in November 2000). When it first came out (1998) it was an instant international cult hit, and revisiting it now it retains everything it had then. The pulse-pumping music, the “what if” scenarios, its fun, fast-paced, exciting and both visually and aurally in high gear. Lola is Franka Potente who has since become more famous in Game of Thrones.

Roger Ebert – The director, a young German named Tom Tykwer, throws every trick in the book at us, and then the book, and then himself. The opening credits spring a digital surprise, as a shot of a crowd turns into an aerial point of view and the crowd spells out the name of the movie. Lola sometimes runs so frantically that mere action cannot convey her energy, and the movie switches to animation. There’s speedup, instant replay, black and white, whatever. What it does, it does cheerfully, with great energy, and very well.