Clever concept. Using documentary footage and low budget but impressive storytelling, this is an engrossing tale of the dangers of meddling with the time line.

You make movies but it’s lockdown. What do you do? Andrew Legge, Emma Appleton, Stephanie Martini, et al. create LOLA, probably the most interesting and original “lockdown” movie to come out of that crappy period. Sisters, Thomasina (Appleton) and Martha (Martini) create a machine that cannot transport them through time, but can show images/broadcasts from the future — it’s 1941 and a lot of culture is ahead. Right away I loved this movie because the sisters bet on sports to financially support themselves, something that any of us would do given the same privileged knowledge. They also use their knowledge of pop music to become sensations and even are responsible for the national slogan during the “Battle of Britain” — “You Really Got Me” (of Kinks fame), a sort of taunt to Hitler, overshadows any “Keep Calm and Carry On” that might be emanating from Buckingham Palace or 10 Downing Street. However, like any good “time travel” movie, the ripple effects are wide and infinite, and the future of Britain, pop culture, — President Lindbergh! Fascist Pop Rock! — and WWII is forever changed. LOLA is the best kind of “found footage” movie. Although its vision is grand, for the most part, it remains local while showing the broader world through broadcasts. Finding movies like LOLA and recommending them to readers and friends is what makes running this blog so enjoyable. It’s only 79 minutes. It’s stylish, thought-provoking, and fun. Absolutely check it out.

LOLA is inventive in both concept/story and style/execution. A dark alt-history script is always going to be intriguing to me, and it's well executed in that regard. It also serves as an interesting commentary on the attractiveness of fascism to someone with an engineering mind, who wants to feel in control and for things to be tidy and neat and ideal, i.e. engineered. What's more, there's a really clever sci-fi time manipulating angle to the story, and the quasi-plausible bow-tying at the end they accomplish given that storytelling device is quite satisfying.

Ten minutes in I was hooked, and so should you be.

This is remarkably well done. A fresh take on a sci-fi concept, set in WWII. That description should lead to lots of criticisms, but …. No. Impeccably well written, acted, directed, filmed, and edited. If you like WWII movies, alt-history, sci-fi, or independent films, this is a must see. I am interested in discovering other films by the producer, writers, director, and lead actresses.

This is a low budget film with big ideas. It works surprisingly well. I loved the honesty in how they approached the tradeoffs of changing history. Like Stephen King's 11/22/63 we see the unintended consequence of doing good. Loved it.

LOLA stands out by presenting viewers with an intriguing "what if" story that offers a unique historical experience.

Interesting idea (which may be why the critics liked it) but flawed implementation and weak ending (which may be why audiences were less thrilled). How likely is it that the government in WWII England would just let a civilian make military decisions without supervision and assistance? At the end, leaving us in the depth of disaster to only assume somehow it got reconned was unsatisfying. Could have left some breadcrumbs earlier that would have made it more certain.

A masterpiece in it's own rights.

Glad to find this on Tubi. Interesting concept. I didn't care too much for the execution and the ending.

Thom and Mars have built Lola, a machine that can receive radio and television signals from the future. As expected of anyone intelligent, they use Lola to view David Bowie videos. Fun and games end when the military gets involved. Yet another hidden gem. This is certainly going in my top 5 time travel films (I've yet to see Primer, which many rave about). The film was shot during lockdown using vintage cameras and the actresses actually work the cameras when their characters are doing so. The chemistry between the two leads is magnetic and the film moves at a brisk pace. A very smart film. Highly recommended

Although it manages to be briefly original and entertaining about halfway through, Lola clearly doesn't know whether it should focus on the concept itself and the events that flow from it or its characters, who happen to be a lot less interesting than the writer had likely intended. An almost painfully unimaginative ending signs this great idea off to mediocrity.

Engrossing, original, thought- provoking. Terrific acting and stylish. Some memorable lines. Enjoy.

I'm genuinely perplexed as to why this gets a high rating among critics. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I LOVE sci fi. Also quite like historical fiction. So I was sincerely in the mood for Lola, but when I started watching it felt amateur. The acting, the script. The characters felt unrealistic and (at least one of them) highly unlikeable. Is it the fact that it's a blend of "found" and created footage, i.e. merely the technical ambition of it, that critics admire? I don't get it. The accents and the content of the dialogue I found routinely jarring. The interactions, preoccupations, the gaits, the romance, all felt anachronistic (yes, I'm aware the film is about time travel - it's the people *around* the lead female characters, as well as their own implausibly modernised demeanours and ways). I'm... genuinely perplexed.

This movie is trash. Although, I'm not surprised it's so highly rated among so-called experts in cinema. You rated The Artist highly too.

Great Movie. A good plot meets a unique cinematic style.

A surprisingly poor film given the very high ratings from the critics. Normally the critics opinion doesn't fail with Rotten Tomatoes but such a wide breach between the public's and critics' views was a definite red flag here. The premise for the film is interesting. I wasn't bored at any time but felt nothing when it ended. Something stopped me from being drawn in and taken on the journey. It felt very unreal throughout. I wasn't sucked in for a second. Niel Hannon's score was a definite surprise highlight, as well a few great songs which seem to be written specially for the film. Give it a try on a rainy day. You may disagree with me.

Excellent film that breaks genre expectations. It is a historical fiction that is also a futurism science fiction film and also a found footage timeloop film. Excellent acting and music. The pacing is brisk and doesn't waste a moment.

Wonderful movie. Makes you use your brain to think. It has a feeling of the Blair Witch Project combined with Cloverfield. You need to pay attention as the movie progresses. Also pay attention to the ending carefully. The combined imagery of the past and present and screen format and different audio sources were woven together masterfully. I love the camera angles and editing. I hope this group decides to make another movie.

Weak movie. Boring. Hated it. Has amateur feel to it. Like it's a home movie or something. Cinematography was horrible. Script weak. Acting also weak