Key Ideas in Run Lola Run 
    Life is a Game  
    Life is random, chaotic, erratic and no matter how hard we try to 
    control it, we are ultimately at the mercy of the universal 
    certainties (or rules of life) time, death, causality and chance. 
    Run Lola Run uses an array of visual elements to create a 
    distinctive and intricate visual metaphor which hyperbolises this 
    philosophical understanding of life. Tykwer brings this abstract 
    concept into the real world as his consistent use of various game 
    motifs and symbols blurs the lines between realism and fantasy. 
    However, Tykwer, the film and Lola herself break the rules of this 
    game constantly revealing the importance of choice and self-
    determination. 
           Soccer/Football 
  A team sport, ‘The World Game’, well known, loved, controlled by 
  time, win/lose/draw, based on actions and consequences. 
  “After the game is before the game.” Herberger
  Highlights the cyclical  and repetitive nature of life. The game of life 
  keeps playing, as one game (life) ends, another begins. 
              Soccer/Football
  Rules of Football
  90 minutes
  105x68 metre area
  11 players, two teams
  2 goals on either side
  1 ball
  THREE POSSIBLE RESULTS: A win, a draw, a loss.
  “Everything else is pure theory" is a part of the quote that reinforces that football 
  (and the film) are games, and they have a beginning and end, but in between those 
  90 minutes, ANYTHING can happen.
  “The ball is round. The game lasts 90 minutes. That’s a fact. Everything else is pure 
  theory. Here we go.”
  Tykwer uses this quote to highlight the difference between a fact/rule and a theory. 
  Here, he is perhaps alluding to the theories we devise to give meaning to life. This 
  quote foreshadows the action of the film as Lola breaks the rules throughout and 
  the film only lasts 76 minutes. “The ball is round“ in football slang means that 
  anyone can win the game highlighting concepts of chance and 
  action/consequence. 
                         Video Games 
  Interactivity and hyper-reality in the video game experience 
  are infused in Run Lola Run. The caricatured characters 
  have out-of-this-world options to gain self-advantage and 
  cheat death. Most video games are aimed at protection            The opening sequence 
  against death; characters also have 3 'lives‘ just like Lola.    highlights the video game 
                                                                   aesthetic through the use 
                                                                   of animation and a 
                                                                   character selection menu 
                                                                   as the opening titles. 
                                                                   These distinct visual 
                                                                   features combine to 
                                                                   engage audiences in the 
                                                                   narrative as the familiar 
                                                                   visuals. 
                                                                   Is Lola the controlled 
                                                                   player, going through the 
                                                                   motions of the game? 
                                                                   Or is Lola the controller, 
                                                                   able to take her future 
                                                                   into her own hands? 
                                                                   Or is she both controlled 
                                                                   and controller?