LOLA (2022).
Label: Severin Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 78 Minutes 48 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0, 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Director: Andrew Legge
Cast: Emma Appleton, Stefani Martini, Rory Fleck Byrne, Aaron Monaghan, Shaun Boylan
Lola (2022) is an Irish-made sci-fi found-footage film, presenting itself as a film within a film, what we are watching are film reels that were discovered in Sussex, England in 2021. Contained on these film reels is a documentary made-up of home videos, the story of orphaned UK sisters Thomasina (Emma Appleton, Pistol) and Martha (Stefanie Martini, The Last Kingdom) who in 1938 have created a retro-futurist device that they have dubbed "Lola", it has the ability intercept future radio and TV broadcasts, displaying them on a crude cathode ray television display. The film has been assembled by sister Martha aka "Mars", and why she has done so is further explained as the film continues.
Using the Lola device the sisters are enraptured by the broadcasts from the future, discovering the glories of 60's rock & roll via The Kinks, and particularly the alien-sounding music of David Bowie decades before thor proper the invention, first tuning into see him perform "Space Oddity". It's during the outbreak of WWII that the sisters discover that they can tune into future broadcasts to predict when German attacks are imminent, they then begin anonymously radio broadcasting warnings to Londoners, these broadcasts are dubbed ‘the Angel of Portobello’, and they save countless lives during the attacks. This manages to attract the attention of the military who are naturally curious as to who these anonymous broadcasters are and how they have come to gain this seemingly clairvoyant knowledge. The sisters are discovered by Lt. Sebastian
Holloway (Rory Fleck Byrne), who brings it to the attention of his superior Cobcroft (Aaron Monaghan, The Banshees of Inisherin), Cobcroft is suspect of the claims of future broadcast interception, at least until the predictions start to turn into victories for Allied Forces, now convinced he assigns Holloway to oversee the sisters broadcast interception, approving the use of military radio channels to further deliver military victories and to alter the course of World War II, and of course taking all the credit for himself.
However, Mars begins to realize that altering the course of world events is having unintended consequences in the future, which she discovers when she can no longer tune into her favorite TV performances from David Bowie, in his place finding a sinister fascist pop-figure named Reginald Watson (Shaun Boylan, The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish) and his #1 synth-pop song "The Sound of Marching Feet". From here there's a cascading series of events that spin wildly out of control, not least of which include U.S. forces pull out of the war, causing the sisters to be branded nazi-spies among other tragedies.
I thought the cast was excellent, Emma Appleton and
Stefanie Martini are magnetic as the sisters, Appleton's Mars is warm and bright, absolutely in love with the arts and culture of the future; while androgynous thinker Thomasin is more cold and calculated, her strategic views of the war end up dehumanizing her towards the end, and causing a divide between the pair.
This is director Andrew Legge's debut feature-film, it's low budget but beautifully thought out and realized. From what I have gathered from the disc's insightful extras it's largely shot with vintage 16mm Bolex and Arriflex cameras as well as 1930s Newman Sinclair 35mm wind-up camera, giving the period set found-footage an authenticity that pulls you into the period. Vintage newsreel footage is also used and digitally manipulated, quite seamlessly, to offer an alternate past brought about by the actions of the sisters who started out with good intentions, but not unexpectedly bring about a fascist dystopian future. It's an utterly fascinating creation, the amount of low-budget, scrappy ingenuity on display just brought a smile to my face from scene to scene, I was quite absolutely transported by it. Layered throughout we have the music for the film which was written by by Neil Hannon of the group Divine Comedy, it's just perfection, his fascist anti-Bowie anthem "The Sound of Marching Feet" is so sinisterly catchy, as is "To The Gallows", another fascist pop tune from Watson about seeing enemies of the state executed. We also get Martha performing a cabaret version of The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" at a military party, which becomes a bit of a wartime anthem. It was during this performance I saw the writing on the wall in regard to altering the future, I mean they basically torpedoed the future career of the fucking Kinks right there!
Audio/Video: Lola (2023) arrives on Blu-ray from Severin Films in 1080p HD framed in the original 1.37:1 aspect ratio. Shot using 16mm and 35mm film elements the flick look terrific, the monochromatic images having a lived-in authentic vintage look and texture to them, with what I assume are both real and faux photochemical blemishes and scratches. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0, 5.1 with optional English subtitles. The 2.0 has a more mono feel to it, while the 5.1 also has that mono authenticity to it as well, though in spots it opens up to a fuller sound design that betrays the found-footage aesthetic, but I didn;t find that bothersome in the least. Dialogue and music fluctuate regularly, it is a found-footage film after all, but is never hard to decipher.
Extras are bountiful, starting off with an Audio Commentary With Co-Writer/Director Andrew Legge And Producer Alan Maher, then onto a 6-min The Making Of Lola featurette,a 3-min Outtake – Remember Tomorrow; and 2-min Theatrical Trailer. Another excellent add are two of Legge's Short Films, we get the 16-min The Girl with the Mechanical Maiden (2012) and the 16-min The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish (2005), both of which are quite good, especially The Girl With the Mechanical Maiden, it's quite an attractive and well shot short, I am surprised we are only now seeing a feature film from Legge. The single-disc Blu-ray release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Co-Writer/Director Andrew Legge And Producer Alan Maher
- The Making Of Lola (5:49)
- Outtake – Remember Tomorrow (3:18)
- Trailer (1:52)
- Short Films By Andrew Legge: The Girl with the Mechanical Maiden (2012) (15:51)
- Short Films By Andrew Legge: The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish (2005) (16:24)
- Audio Commentary With Co-Writer/Director Andrew Legge And Producer Alan Maher
- The Making Of Lola (5:49)
- Outtake – Remember Tomorrow (3:18)
- Trailer (1:52)
- Short Films By Andrew Legge: The Girl with the Mechanical Maiden (2012) (15:51)
- Short Films By Andrew Legge: The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish (2005) (16:24)
Lola (2022) is among my favorite film discoveries of 2024, a fantastic bit of dystopian sci-fi found-footage with time travel elements that fires on all cylinders; made on the cheap but artful, inventive, clever and absolutely thrilling - this easily makes it into my list of top 10 of time travel and/or found-footage flicks of all time. Severin, who do not endeavor into the realm of contemporary films often, step up to the plate with a top-notch release with a terrific set of extras. I say grab yourself a copy quick, this dystopian found-footage gem comes highly recommended.
Screenshots from the Severin Films Blu-ray:
Extras:
