Review: Kanye West premieres short film ‘Runaway’, previews songs from upcoming album

Kanye West travelled to Prague not so long ago to film a 35 minute short film called Runaway.  The film, directed by West & written by music video collaborator Hype Williams, plays like an extended and highly perfected music video.  Nine songs from West’s upcoming fifth studio album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy are interspersed throughout the film that premiered Saturday night simultaneously on MTV, MTV 2, MTV.com, BET, BET.com, and VH1.com.  Watch it uncensored after the break.

The film tells a short story about a beautiful phoenix (played by model Selita Ebanks) falling to Earth and falling in love with a man played by Kanye.  It opens up with a short introductory quip by Nicki Minaj (in her overzealous British accent) as she invites the viewer to “gather ’round children, zip it, listen!”  Then the first beat drops.  As Kanye drives his luxury car through a wooded area populated by grazing deer (who appear to be CGI), ‘Ye raps the title track “Dark Fantasy.”  In the distance up in the sky a plume of fire quickly descends to the ground, crashing into Kanye’s car and forcing ‘Ye to come to the rescue.  As the track goes “Can we get much higher?  Oh, oh, oh oh…” we catch our first glimpse of the Phoenix injured on the pavement.  Kanye picks her up and carries her away from the wreck, walking slowly towards the camera as the fire blazes in the background and “Dark Fantasy” winds down.  The title card “Runaway” appears, the track ends, and the story resumes at Kanye’s home.

The Phoenix wakes up and finds herself disoriented in our markedly different world.  Ebanks does a fantastic job throughout the film portraying this sense of feeling out of place in a foreign land–the ruffling of her feathers, the way she moves her claws and darts her head.  All of these small but very distinct qualities add to her stranger in a strange land mentality that brings the film’s overall theme into focus when the conclusion rolls around.  She is startled by a breaking news story shouting from the TV; Kanye appears and informs her, “First rule in this world baby: Don’t pay attention to anything you see in the news.”  Take note: the film does not contain much dialogue (not including the songs, obviously), so listen carefully to what Kanye and Ebanks’ characters have to say.  Kanye’s message is not hiding–it lives in the songs, the visuals, and also in what he (and the Phoenix) have to say.

Next up is “Gorgeous” — Kid Cudi sings the chorus and Kanye raps a verse as we watch the Phoenix interact with nature and animals.  While she’s frolicking in the backyard and getting acclimated to our world, Kanye looks on from inside the house.  He’s in love with the mysterious bird that fell into his lap.  Quite abruptly the track ends and a distinctly new version of “Power” begins.  Kanye plays with the beat on his sampler and the Phoenix twitches along with it.  A wave of comfortability hits the Phoenix and so she fearlessly begins to seductively dance to the heavily sampled “Power.”  Then as abruptly as it started “Power” ends and the signature horns of “All of the Lights” are introduced.

Outside.  Night time.  Fireworks.  Lots of deep, dark reds fill the sky.  Featured artist Rihanna belts out her part of the track and Kanye and the Phoenix look up at the brightly lit sky and smile and laugh at all the excitement around them.  A marching band donned in red attire direct a giant paper mache bust of the late Michael Jackson.  Lots of red.  Kanye raps a verse, Rihanna closes it out.  Cut to the Phoenix admiring and learning how to use a cup.  Again, Kanye looks on in astonishment.

Devil in a New Dress” plays as Kanye and his Phoenix walk into large, dome-shaped building.  This is the main event.  A long table seats a number of dinner guests wearing matching white suits.  The song ends and after a moment of silence the man sitting next to ‘Ye says, “You’re girlfriend is really beautiful.”  Kanye repsonds, ” Thank you.”  The man inquires, “Do you know she’s a bird?”  ‘Ye replies, ” No, I never noticed that.”  The man speaks one last time, but I cannot translate his foreign language.  Kanye responds by giving off a perplexed look into the distance, and then he gets up and approaches a nearby piano.  “Runaway” begins.  A squad of professional ballerinas run into place and dance magestically to the track (think SNL performance, but certainly more perfected).  This is an extended version of the song; it goes on for a full eight minutes.  Pusha T’s featured verse is there, as is a new barely discernable heavily autotuned verse from Kanye.  The ballerinas flutter away, Kanye stands up from the piano with his hand to his heart, and the dinner guests applaude the performance.  A giant cooked bird is served for the main course and at the sight of this the Phoenix stands up, spreads her colorful wings, and gives off a loud whine.  Kanye covers his face with his hands, ashamed.  A quick verse from “Hell of a Life” plays the scene out.

We’re back at Kanye’s pad and the Phoenix is sprawled out on the grass in the backyard amonst the animals.  ‘Ye looks on from inside the house.  Our characters are in a depression.  John Legend sings “Blame Game” behind this.  Track doesn’t last long enough, cut to thick clouds and a wide shot of Kanye and the Phoenix finally engaging in back-and-forth verbal conversation.  The Phoenix: “Can I ask you a question?”  Kanye: “Of course, babe.”  The Phoenix: “All of the statues that we see, where do you think they came from?”  While Kanye responds a freeze frame shot of the “Runaway” ballerinas is carefully examined.  “I think that artists carve them, years and years ago.”  The Phoenix: “No.  They are phoenix turned to stone.”  Kanye laughs, “Baby–” and is cut off by the Phoenix: “They are phoenix carved to stone!”  She continues, “Do you know what I hate most about your world?  Anything that is different you try to change.  You try to tear it down.  You rip the wings off the phoenix and they turn to stone,” she cries.  “And if I don’t burn, I will turn to stone.”  Kanye raises his voice,”What do you mean burn?”  The Phonix answers, “If I don’t burn, I can’t go back to my world.”  Kanye: “I don’t want you to go back to your world.  I want you to stay here with me.”  The Phoenix: “I have to burn.”  Kanye: “No.  I’ll never let you burn.”  The two lovers that were never meant to be share a kiss and the final song slowly turns on: I’m up in the woods/I’m down on my mind/I’m building a still/To slow down the time.  It’s “Lost in the World.”

The song continues to play, moving from its slow autotuned overture to the bass-thumping chorus.  Day time.  Kanye wakes up on his roof and the bird is gone.  When he realizes this he runs through the woods in desperate search for her; we are back to the very scene where the film opened.  Kanye raps, “Your my devil, your my angel, Your my heaven, your my hell/You’re my now, you’re my forever, you’re my freedom, your my jail/You’re my lies your my truth, you’re my war you’re my truce/Your my questions your my proof/your my stress your mama’s shoes/Mama say mama say mama gos-an, lost in this plastic light/Let’s break out of this fake ass party, and turn this into a classic night/ If we die in each others arms, we’ll get layed in that afterlife/And if we die in each others arms, we still get layed yea.”  High up in the sky the Phoenix burns so she can go home.  Kanye is alone.  RUNAWAY.

So what is this all about?  On the whole people of Earth have a tendency to dismiss the different, the strange, the foreign, the bizarre, the unique, the complex.  One can easily read this film as a metaphor for the way Kanye thinks people are quick to judge his music and life choices, both public and private.  The Phoenix represents all the words I listed above.  She is this foreign complex being that no one, including Kanye, seems to fully understand.  She fell to Earth accidentally, and Kanye mistakened her plight for a message from a higher being.  Kanye chose to act as savior and fell in love with the mysterious thing.  She enjoyed his presence, but all along she was aware that Earth was not her home and that it was necessary for her to burn and return to her universe.  “Do you know what I hate most about your world?” says the Phoenix.  “Anything that is different you try to change.  You try to tear it down.”  Kanye has made a mixed bag of decisions throughout his career, but in the end he did not drastically harm society; he knows his main purpose is to be an artist and supply the masses with a new spin of hip-hop music, contributing a unique form of what he calls “commercial art” to our culture.  Unfortunately for Kanye, at the end of the film he loses his love (this may represent the loss of his mother/past love interests) and he is left in a desperate sweat, cold and alone (symbolizing his real-life state of solitude during recent rough times, ie. after the Swift incident).

Overall Runaway is a visually splendid spectacle that is sure to inject excitement into the music industry.  Few artists are bold enough to take on their music in such an artistic manner, and I praise Kanye for taking a giant leap forward beyond the standard music video.  In Runaway he successfully attempts to tell a simple story of a man and his phoenix (the “other”) carrying on an incompatible relationship that results in lessons learned: being misunderstood in our world is a hard way to go through life, and it is important to accept and embrace the other for all his/her complexities.  What makes us different makes us special and something to behold.

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