If it's art films you want, buy a ticket and see one

"Run Lola Run"

Directed by: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu

Rated: R

and "The Red Violin"

Directed by: Francois Girard

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson

Rated: This film is not rated

In the dozen-plus years that I've written this column, one particular theme has reared its head on several occasions, and it has done so again.

Friends, acquaintances, colleagues and strangers have all bemoaned the fact that Springfield seems to lack a film culture. Smaller movies, art films, things outside the mainstream just seem to pass us by. Southwest Missouri State University has done its part, providing an interesting film series every semester.

My retort has always been this: If you want these kinds of films, support these kinds of films. In the past few years, some local theaters have tried their darnedest to bring alternative cinema to town, but you can't blame them for scrapping the idea if no one shows up to buy a ticket.

The most recent venue to take the plunge is the Springfield 8. The theater is currently showing two art films, both quite worthy of attention.

The two movies, "Run Lola Run" and "The Red Violin," couldn't be further apart in style but have the common bond of being outside the Hollywood mainstream.

"Run Lola Run" is a frantic, frenetic and kinetic piece of work from German writer and director Tom Tykwer. Tykwer also co-wrote the relentless (and I mean that in a good way) techno soundtrack that is an integral part of the film.

As with "Sliding Doors" a few years ago, "Run Lola Run" features alternate versions of the same reality.

Lola gets a call from her boyfriend. She was supposed to pick him up after he collected some money for a mob boss. She was late so he had to take the subway and (the knucklehead) left a bag with 100,000 German marks on the train. He now has 20 minutes to come up with the cash or he's a dead man. This is when the running begins.

In three separate takes on reality, Lola runs to save her man and the action, camera movement and sound are nonstop.

Tykwer uses every trick in the book, including animation, to bring his pulse-pounding vision to the screen.

I loved this movie for its sheer inventiveness, and there is something strangely appealing about star Franka Potente.

"The Red Violin" also has a soundtrack that is very important to the film, but it's a more soothing, classical score.

Director Francois Girard, who also gave us the interesting "32 Short Films About Glenn Gould," has crafted a film wherein an inanimate object, in this case a violin, is the main character. Such a premise is not an easy task, but Girard pulls it off.

The story jumps around in time, and as the film opens we're in modern-day Montreal where our hero (the violin) is up for auction. We then travel back to 17th century Italy and see the origins of the instrument. We're also taken to Austria, England, China and a Gypsy caravan.

Just when viewers think they've got a handle on the mood of the film, Girard, in the last 30 minutes or so, takes the film back to Vienna for a powerful scene and then forward to Montreal again for a rather surprising ending.

Another surprise for me was the fact that there were a great number of people at the Sunday night showing I attended (as opposed to one single other soul at "Lola"), so maybe there is hope we'll be seeing more of this kind of film around town.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)

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