By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Ellen Seidler | Megan Siler
Starring: Angelyna Martinez | Ashleigh Sumner | Cathy DeBuono | Jessica Graham | Jill Bennett
Country: united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 89
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1123894/
Michael says: “In Provincetown for the weekend and as luck would have it, the Provincetown International Film Festival has a slate of Women’s Week Films running at the Whaler’s Wharf! Wary of catching some amateurish, lesbian film (a la BAR GIRLS – ugh!) I decided to go with the ‘sexy, lesbian romp,’ AND THEN CAME LOLA. What a delightful surprise this riff on Tom Tykwer’s RUN, LOLA, RUN this turned out to be! The film has only played a couple of lgbt film festivals as of yet, but I’d love to see it get a limited release. It’s distributed by Wolfe, so at the very least, a DVD release is in its future.
“Lola is not your typical lesbian; she’s a commitment-phobe, and she’s often checked-out during her frequent sexual encounters… ‘like a man.’ But Lola is on the verge of a breakthrough, both with her love life in the form of the beautiful Casey, and her struggling career as a photographer. When she is woken by a frantic phone call from Casey, she must overcome a series of obstacles, nothing more overwhelming as her lack of reliability, in order to make an important delivery on time. So begins a dramatic race across San Francisco, encountering broken stairways, booted cars, angry lesbians with attack dogs, mysterious motorcyclists, wide-eyed tourists, and ex-girlfriends all trying to keep Lola from making this all-important rendezvous. It’s not only her career that’s on the line, but her girlfriend, as Casey’s ex, the gorgeous, Italian Danielle, is plying Casey with wine, seductive looks, and tantalizing invitations while they wait for Lola’s arrival. Lola’s race has several possible outcomes, and the film allows us to see three different versions, representative of her struggle with commitment as she comes to realize how important Casey is to her. Interspersed throughout the three, different runs through the city are ‘what if’ snapshots of the random people Lola encounters, animated sequences, and therapy sessions with all of the characters.
“While this wasn’t a film with much of a budget, directors Ellen Seidler and Megan Siler do a terrific job utilizing the beautiful city backdrop, and keeping the camera work interesting. Their script is tight and avoids a lot of clichés often found in this genre of film, despite a couple of moments where they go for the easy ‘lesbian’ joke. The cast was a nice surprise, especially Ashleigh Summer, who is open and appealing as Lola. Like Franke Potente we’re right with this Lola, rooting for her to succeed in her mad dash through the city. It’s a colorful cast of mostly TV actors and it works well. As a fan of RUN, LOLA, RUN, I was very appreciative of the inspiration, but surprisingly, it wasn’t until the first run was completed, and the second began that I suddenly thought, ‘That’s right! Her name is Lola!’ 4 cats”