I really enjoyed Run Lola Run (see my fellow editor Kristin’s review),
so when I heard there was another movie out by the same people, I had high hopes.
Perhaps too high.
The Princess and the Warrior is much slower-paced than Run Lola Run,
which in itself isn’t a bad thing. And it dwells more on character and
acting than on plot, which also in itself isn’t a bad thing. It also had
some pretty quirky characters, which can sometimes be interesting.
What disappointed me about this film, I think, is that it relied a bit too much
on show instead of tell in all of the above-mentioned areas. It
would have been much clearer from an audience perspective had we known more
from the beginning of the movie, and I don’t believe it would have compromised
the integrity of the film. I tend to enjoy both unusual and slower-paced movies
from time to time, but this one would have been more successful with me if a
few of the information bits left until the end of the movie were quickly told
closer to the beginning.
What’s this movie about, then? Like Run Lola Run, it’s about
chance meetings and perfect timing changing lives. A woman named Sissi who lives
and works in a psychiatric hospital (she’s lived there her whole life)
meets a man who’s stuck in grief and is in a hurry, but stops to help her
anyway. What happens after that is the focus of the movie.
It’s definitely an interesting movie. The acting is marvelous—the
same woman who played Lola played Sissi. I’m glad I saw it. But I don’t
think I’ll need to see it again.