Run, Lola, Run

By RICHARD CORLISS

Flame-haired Lola (Franka Potente) has 20 minutes to get the 100,000 deutsche marks that will save her thug boyfriend's life. So she goes running through Berlin in search of the loot. Could she take a cab, borrow a car, buy a bike? Yes, but in this breathless adventure logic is less important than a desperate momentum in both the story and the film's style. Telling the plot three times, with cunning variations, Tykwer mixes pixilated photos, split screens, cartooning, the works. Invigorating and annoying, Lola could use a dose of Ritalin. Best to take this 76-minute riff on alternate destinies as an antidote to Europe's minimalist art-house cinema and to enjoy Potente's sweaty radiance. With her guile and loping intensity, she's part trickster, part track star.

--By Richard Corliss