'PRINCESS' MOVES SLOWLY, BUT PATIENCE IS REWARDED.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

Tom Tykwer's ``The Princess & the Warrior'' displays few of the cartoonish, kinetic flourishes that made his last movie, ``Run Lola Run,'' an audience favorite on the art house circuit, but you know it's a Tykwer film anyway. The German filmmaker is obsessed with time and fate and, to a lesser degree, actress Franka Potente, who turns up again as a Tykwer title character. It adds up to a dreamlike movie with the same themes played at a much slower pace, a sometimes glacial gait that might not please some of ``Lola's'' video game fans, but they'll just have to get over it. This is a very good follow-up film.

If you've seen ``Run Lola Run'' (or ``Winter Sleepers,'' ``Lola's'' predecessor), you know a couple of things about Tykwer. He's a romantic who believes that love's power can conquer just about anything, including jaded moviegoers (and moviemakers). He believes nothing happens by chance and that life's little accidents have a way of working out for some higher purpose - even if the possibility of some higher deity is never mentioned.

These ideas unfold in ``The Princess & the Warrior'' as Tykwer oh-so- gradually introduces us to his two main characters - a nurse, Sissi (Potente), who works in a psychiatric hospital, and a small-time criminal, Bodo (Benno Furmann), who is haunted by his past. The two meet in a bravura, heart-stopping ``Lola''-like sequence, which leaves Sissi haunted by Bodo and determined to learn if their encounter ``means something or was it coincidence?''

It's certainly a case of opposites attracting: Sissi was born in the mental institution and knows little to nothing about love. Bodo, on the other hand, has been in love, but the experience left him shattered, unable to cope with any kind of future. Bodo's brother, Walter (Joachim Krol), cautions Sissi: ``He has enough problems and you're one too many.'' Walter is planning one last big heist with Bodo and then the two brothers will go to Australia, a place about as far away from Germany as they can get. Walter hopes Bodo's demons don't follow them on the journey.

At 133 minutes, ``The Princess & the Warrior'' is nearly an hour longer than ``Lola'' and it's occasionally a bit too meditative for its own good. But Tykwer is clearly determined not be seen as a slick, one-trick pony, and this movie represents a definite step forward in its ruminative explorations of life's big questions.

He has a powerful muse in Potente, who has lost her persimmon ``Lola'' hair color for more subdued blond shadings, a muting that extends to the powerfully subtle humanity in her acting. Her journey as this ``Princess'' won't leave you as breathless as did ``Lola's,'' but that doesn't make it any less astonishing a trip.

``THE PRINCESS & THE WARRIOR''

(Rated R: disturbing images, language and some sexual content)

The stars: Franka Potente, Benno Furmann, Joachim Krol.

Behind the scenes: Directed and written by Tom Tykwer.

Running time: Two hours, 13 minutes.

Playing: Landmark's Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles.

Our rating: Three and one half stars

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The connection between Sissi (Franka Potente), a psychiatric-hospital nurse, and Bodo (Benno Furmann) a small-time criminal, is electrifying in ``The Princess & the Warrior.''