Intellectual Montage In Run Lola Run

Techniques of Montage in Run Lola Run to Create Dialectical Meaning Run Lola Run (Tom Tykwer, 1998) is a film that is edited together in a way not necessarily for traditional continuity editing, rather to create meaning for the shots in the film. It is edited at a very fast pace, leaving many shots to be only one or two seconds long, with the main focus being on the film’s various attractions to get meaning across to the viewer. This type of montage aligns specifically with Sergei Eisenstein’s theory of intellectual montage and dialectical montage in order to create the meaning it does, as well as the varying use of his other techniques of film montage: metric, rhythmic, tonal and overtonal. Run Lola Run makes use of both Eisenstein’s theory
Eisenstein provides a basic definition of intellectual cinema early on in the essay: “a cinema that seeks the maximum laconicism in the visual exposition of abstract concepts” (83). Intellectual montage makes use of associationism, which describes conventions that are learned by a repeated association. In this case, these conventions are displayed in the form of images. This sort of montage takes these recognizable images with either a previously observed convention attached to it through culture or an easily attachable meaning, juxtaposes it together with another shot or image of the same sort, and then creates a meaning for those two images, as well as it often elicits a sort of emotional response from the viewer. Essentially, “the combination of two ‘representable’ objects achieves the representation of something that cannot be graphically represented” (83). Eisenstein compares intellectual montage to the Japanese kanji hieroglyphs, explaining that they often use two graphic symbols put together to create a new meaning between the two, “for example: the representation of water and an eye signifies ‘to weep’” (83). He also compares this montage to the Japanese kubuki theatre, where the different theatrical elements and recognized conventions of these elements help to portray the characters’ emotions and the story (91). Fundamentally, intellectual montage
They are different images that have different meanings that come together through conflict to create meaning in a scene, series of shots, or a single shot. In the case of the casino scene in Run Lola Run, this happens many times with the motifs. As discussed above, the motifs used in this scene have been previously established and therefore already have conventions associated with them. In some cases, the motifs are juxtaposed directly against each other. For example, in shot 51 of the scene, the ball is shown spinning in the roulette wheel: something the viewer has seen before in this round of roulette as it feels like time is being stretched out. In the next shot, Lola begins to scream at the roulette wheel. Since both of these previously established motifs are presented in shots right next to each other, it creates a new dialectical meaning together: she realizes she is spinning out of control and thus wants to take back control – her screaming is her way of taking control and making what she wants to happen, happen. The conflict in these two shots specifically help lead to the ball, a few shots later, landing into the black 20 for a second