To promote his new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West has made a mini movie (just over 30 minutes) called Runaway. Does it have the same impact that Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Bad had in their time?
The movie has been written by both Kanye West and Hype Williams (a director who is well-known for his extravagant (and very expensive) video clips during the nineties and who also made the movie Belly starring DMX and Nas). They already worked together before on Kanye’s Golddigger video.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwNcNOTVzY]
Runaway has not been directed by Williams, but by Kanye West. When he was younger he went to the American Academy of Art and as he has shown on an MTV special he was quite talented as well. This art side of him is clearly present in Runaway, which tells the story of an angelic phoenix crashing on earth and being found by Kanye, who introduces her to his own world.
When others meet her she is not accepted, despite her obvious beauty. It’s clear that Kanye West tries to make a statement, which is the question why the world wants to change the things which are different and is blind to the beauty of things? The fact that he is different as a hiphop artist (and controversial) is clear after watching this movie. I can’t remember any other rap videos with a very long ballet performance.
The images are beautiful and very surreal. Whether it’s big explosions, a car driving though a forest or the phoenix discovering the world, it’s all great footage to look at with great use of color, slow motion and framing of the shots. Visually is a pleasure to watch.
These images are supported by songs of the new album and gives the viewer a chance to hear them to get an idea of what they can expect. Based on what I’ve heard, I’m really looking forward to hearing it in full. I loved the bit where you see Kanye doing his magic on the MPC, remixing his Power single.
Does Runaway work as a mini movie? The story is easily summarised and there isn’t a lot of dialog. It is the kind of film you’d probably would see at an arthouse and it depends on your own tastes whether or not you’d be willing to see a movie there and enjoy it. As I do like his music and think he’s a very accomplished artist/producer I was able to enjoy it, but if you are not into the music it’s probably you’d find boring. I don’t expect this movie to have the same impact as Michael Jackson had with his movies.
Score: 7
Runaway is available for free via Youtube:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg5wkZ-dJXA]