Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 105 Screening
When reporter Hannah entered the theater showing "Run Lola Run," she found it quite crowded, with few seats remaining. She glanced around and noticed that most of the audience were young people.

After she sat down, she heard the two young men next to her talking in hushed tones:

"I don't know what you mean by 'game-like movies'? Do you mean live-action game movies like 'The King of Fighters'?"

"I don't know, but I hope it's not a terrible movie like Super Mario!"

As a reporter covering the film, Hannah knew what the two were talking about.

Mortal Kombat, the live-action film adaptation of the video game Mortal Kombat, grossed $2000 million worldwide on a $1.2 million budget and gained widespread acclaim, making it the only successful live-action adaptation of a video game to date. In contrast, Super Mario Bros. is widely considered the worst live-action video game adaptation ever made using the most popular game IP!

Just as she was pondering the connection between the movie and the game, the lights in the theater went out, and everyone stopped talking and involuntarily looked at the big screen.

A light appeared on the screen, and in the darkness, a few lines of poetry emerged:

We should not stop exploring.
All our explorations,

Eventually, we will return to our starting point.
And this was the first time I had learned about this place.

—Thomas Eliot

Many viewers have heard of T.S. Eliot, the famous British modern writer and poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948.

Of course, even those who haven't heard of it can roughly understand the meaning of the poem and guess that the director must have had a reason for playing it at the beginning.

A moment later, the poem disappeared, and the screen went dark again, but the sound of a clock ticking echoed in the theater, giving people an unconscious feeling of urgency and a countdown.

Then, a pendulum enters the picture, swinging back and forth and making a creaking mechanical sound. After swinging back and forth twice, the creaking slows down, and it stops in the center of the picture. At this point, everyone can see clearly that the pendulum is actually a sculpted monster head.

"This is the monster from Greek mythology that devours time!" the young man next to Hannah exclaimed in a low voice.

As upbeat music begins, the camera pans up the monstrous pendulum, revealing the entire clock, its hands ticking away. The next moment, a creaking sound rings out, the sculpted monster opens its mouth, and the camera zooms in on its gaping maw.

Even now, the film's title hasn't been released yet, but the audience has already felt its uniqueness, and many young people's expectations have been raised even higher!
The next moment, various groups of people moved quickly on the screen, and the camera seemed to move rapidly through the busy crowd to the rhythm of the music, with almost everyone appearing blurry.

A magnetic voice narrated: "Humans are perhaps the most mysterious species on Earth, an enigma whose answers remain unsolved... Who are we? Where did we come from? And where are we going..."

As he spoke, several clear figures appeared one after another: Zhang Jiahui wearing a Manchester United jersey, a woman holding a baby, and finally, Law Kar-ying in a security guard uniform.

Law Kar-ying smiled and said, "The ball is round, and the game must last 90 minutes, that's beyond question. Everything else is purely theoretical! Let's begin!"

After saying that, he picked up a soccer ball from under him and kicked it into the sky. The camera seemed to be attached to the soccer ball, following its flight and zooming in high into the air. As it rose higher, it shot down, revealing that the crowd from before looked like ants, forming the words, "Run, Lola!"
The ball then fell into a tunnel, and the scene switched to animation. A cartoon girl with red hair, a blue shirt, and green pants ran through the tunnel, leaping over or breaking obstacles in her way. Whenever a title like "Director – Wu Yuchen" appeared, the cartoon girl would jump up and smash it with her fist, just like in a video game!
This unprecedented and unique opening sequence has already prompted some young viewers in the theater to spontaneously exclaim "cool!"

Although Hannah is a journalist, she is also a young person, and she was involuntarily drawn in by the film's novel and unique camerawork and storytelling style. The audiovisual language style is really to the liking of the new generation of young people!

In the animated tunnel, the cartoon girl finally encounters a monstrous, menacing flower, which swallows her whole. The scene then shifts back to reality, with a long, continuous, accelerated shot from above, not a direct cut. Within three seconds, the camera pans from the entire city in the air to the street blocks, then from a window to the ringing phone in Lola's house. The movie officially begins!
Before the audience in the theater could even marvel, they were immediately drawn to the phone conversation between Lola and her boyfriend Manny.

Fu Dalong cried and complained on the phone that it was all because Lola hadn't arrived on her motorcycle to pick him up in time. He had to take the subway, and when he saw the police on the subway, he instinctively got up and ran away like a mouse seeing a cat. As a result, he left the 50 yuan he got from the diamond trade on the subway. He could only watch helplessly through the subway window as the homeless man next to him picked up the bag of money and showed an incredulous and surprised smile.

The audience also understood that the two had to raise 500,000 within 20 minutes, or the gang leader would definitely kill the boyfriend. Fu Dalong decided that if they didn't have the money by midnight, he would rob a large supermarket across the street in the city center. Thus, the female protagonist, Lola, had to launch a 20-minute fundraising operation to save her boyfriend.

Hannah was thrilled. This movie was truly unconventional; the boyfriend was a complete coward, constantly blaming others for not coming up with solutions and just crying and nagging, while the girlfriend was responsible for saving everything. Compared to typical Hollywood movies where only the male lead saves the pretty girl, this was fucking awesome!

Of course, Hannah knew there was more to it than that. The director's use of rapid camera movements, frequent editing techniques, and compositions were also reasons why she was able to immerse herself in the story. But she couldn't afford to analyze those details now; she just wanted to get into the plot.

Laura searched her mind for every possibility. Only her father, a high-ranking banker, could have that much money. So she pushed open the door and started running!

What follows is like an adventure, with various angles and shots recording Lola's running process, in different scenes, encountering different people, and going in different directions. The combination of side and frontal shots, along with superimposed images, extends the timeline, allowing the audience to feel that Lola is constantly and desperately running.

the first time.

When Lola went downstairs, she encountered a nasty guy with a vicious dog. At the corner, she bumped into a woman pushing a stroller with a child and was insulted. A series of flashback photos foreshadowed the woman's future: she became an alcoholic, argued with her husband, divorced him, was stripped of custody, and eventually stole someone else's child in the park and was caught.

She then encountered a young man on a bicycle wearing a Manchester United jersey who offered to sell her a bicycle. A series of photos showed him being beaten and hospitalized for stealing a bicycle, and later meeting and marrying a nurse.

A middle-aged man driving a car was involved in a car accident and a dispute arose because he was watching her run.

A female bank employee will commit suicide after being paralyzed following surgery due to a car accident.

She eventually arrived at the bank, only to find her father, a high-ranking executive, having an affair with his mistress. After being sternly rejected by her father, she also discovered the truth that she was not his biological daughter, and burst into tears with the help of security guards.

But thinking of her boyfriend, Lola ignored her sadness and continued running. She encountered an ambulance and almost crashed into a large piece of glass being moved on the road ahead.

When Lola finally arrived at the supermarket, Fu Dalong had already entered and started a robbery with a gunshot. With Lola's help, the two managed to steal the money and escape, but were surrounded by police. When Fu Dalong threw the money bag, a new policeman panicked and fired a shot in response, hitting Lola in the chest.

Lola's consciousness entered a red space, a fragment of her past with her boyfriend, lying shirtless in bed, talking about love. This red was not just the red of desire, but also created a sense of illusory peace, shrouded in an atmosphere of death, making us understand that this unreal, illusory scene was a vision or memory after death, thus yearning for another possibility.

As Li Xiaoran exited the red space, she murmured, "I don't want to, I don't want to leave!"

The camera switches to the red money bag still flying in the air, shifting between it and the red telephone receiver that had initially rang. As the music speeds up, and both fall simultaneously, Li Xiaoran's final words are: "Stop!"

The scene returns to the beginning, and Li Xiaoran bursts out of the door again! Some viewers haven't quite registered it yet, but many young viewers have already shouted:

"That's a save/load! The game has been reloaded! That's so cool!"

Some commotion inevitably arose in the theater, but no one took their attention away from the big screen.

The second time begins.

As Lola went downstairs, she ran into the same jerk with the vicious dog again, but this time he tripped her. However, Lola was in a hurry and couldn't afford to argue, so she just rubbed her leg and kept running.

Because of the tripping, she bumped into the woman pushing the stroller a few seconds later. Through a flashback, viewers clearly see that the woman's future has changed. This time, she went to the lottery shop and won the jackpot. Suddenly rich, she lived a happy life with her husband and children!
而骑自行车的张佳辉这次躲过了暴揍，但因此没有认识护士收获爱情，而成为一名流浪汉，最后在独品中死去。

Yes, the audience finds that everything has changed, and the fates of the people Lola meets on the road have changed, all because she was initially tripped by the bad guys and met them a few seconds later!

"Wow!"

"The butterfly effect?!"

Now everyone understands what the movie is about. All the viewers are staring intently at the big screen, eager to see if Lola can succeed in reloading her save file this time, and how much impact she will have on others.

This time, Lola jumped over the front of the car, which again attracted the attention of the middle-aged man driving the car, causing an accident. However, unlike last time when the front of the car was hit, this time the rear of the car was hit.

The fate of the female bank employee changed. In the photo, she didn't have a car accident in the future, but instead hooked up with a young man at the bank. The two even played a game of attack and defense, with the female employee as the queen and the young man being whipped.

Inside the bank, Lola, enraged after being slapped, grabbed a security guard's gun, took her father hostage, robbed the bank, and ran away with $50.

Lola encountered an ambulance on the road and asked the driver for a ride, but was refused. The next moment, the driver, not looking ahead, crashed into a large piece of glass that was being moved at the intersection.

Without hesitation, Lola continued running and called out to Fu Dalong from around the corner just before he stepped into the supermarket. Both of them walked toward each other with smiles on their faces.

Just when the audience thought they had made money and were wondering what would happen to the two of them next, Fu Dalong was hit by a car while crossing the road.

This vehicle was the same ambulance that Lola had just encountered. Due to the accident, the driver was in a hurry and hit Fu Dalong.

Li Xiaoran tossed aside the bag of money she was holding and lunged at Fu Dalong. Fu Dalong, covered in blood, also entered the crimson space this time, where the two were still talking on the bed, continuing their previous conversation.

After Fu Dalong's consciousness exited the red space, the money bag that had been flying high in the air in his eyes fell down, and he reloaded the save file!
In a flash, the scene switches back to the beginning, with Li Xiaoran pushing open the door and running. The third time begins!
"WTF!"

"Can I reload the save file even if Manny dies?"

"It's because the mission wasn't completed. The initial mission was to successfully rescue Manny!"

Ignoring the whispers and discussions among the audience, the third round continued.

This time, Lola jumped directly over the dog's head, giving the bad guy no chance.

On the same path, she encountered the woman pushing the stroller again, but this time she didn't touch her stroller, and the woman didn't yell at her. Fate changed again; she met a church volunteer ahead, joined the church, and became a devout believer.

Zhang Jiahui, who was riding a bicycle, changed his route after being bumped by Li Xiaoran. He met Ni Dahong, a homeless man, at a hamburger shop and sold him the stolen bicycle.

When Lola reached the middle-aged man driving at the intersection, she stopped and blocked his car, preventing an accident, before running away again.

However, what she didn't know was that this middle-aged man was the client her bank executive father was waiting for. The middle-aged man was able to meet her executive father without being in a car accident. When Lola arrived at the bank, she only saw her father get into the middle-aged man's car and leave.

Meanwhile, Fu Dalong happened to encounter Ni Dahong riding a bicycle and chased after him. As the two were crossing the road, a traffic commotion ensued, resulting in a collision between two vehicles. The camera zoomed into the car, revealing the middle-aged man from the previous two car accidents and his father, a bank executive, both unconscious.

Lola, on the other hand, rushed into the roadside casino and won 50 dollars by using her super high-pitched voice as her ultimate weapon.

"Is this Lola's skill? It seems to have appeared twice already. Each time, it shatters the glass and interrupts people's thinking."

"Who knows? Anyway, it's cool!"

While Lola won 50, Fu Dalong caught up with Ni Dahong and retrieved his lost money. Meanwhile, the homeless Ni Dahong picked up the gun that Fu Dalong had thrown away and walked into the bank across the street.

Lola encountered an ambulance again. This time, without asking any questions, she instinctively crawled into the back and saw Law Kar-ying, a security guard who had been shot and was being treated. Realizing that this was her biological father, Lola tightly grasped his hand. Then, to the nurses' astonishment, Law Kar-ying's heartbeat miraculously calmed down.

At a downtown intersection, Lola got out of the ambulance and looked around but couldn't find her boyfriend, Manny. Just as she was getting anxious, a black Mercedes pulled up in the distance. Fu Dalong got out of the gangster's car with a smile, hugged her, and closed the door.

He walked over to Li Xiaoran with a relaxed smile, then hugged her and said, "Don't worry, everything's alright, let's go!"

Li Xiaoran was stunned as he pulled her along. Fu Dalong asked, "What's in your bag?"

Li Xiaoran, who was walking, then looked up and showed a bright smile, and the scene was frozen in time.

At this moment, the film ended, the credits reappeared, and the dynamic music changed, causing all the audience members to breathe a sigh of relief.

Before, watching the movie was a non-stop thrill ride, with everyone's attention constantly focused on the protagonist, Lola, and paying attention to the subtle changes she caused that led to different fates for different people. Now, I can finally relax!
(End of this chapter)