Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Kanye West
Directed By:
Kanye West
All right, let's get this out of the way first. It's a movie. Runaway is 34 minutes long, has a storyline and a distinct attention to aesthetics. It's a millionaire fantasy sure, but it's sure as hell more than a music video. It's featuring more than one song and share no common artistic or commercial goal with the video format. Runaway is an artistic project of Kanye West and it's a damn good movie.
The story is more than what it seems at first. Kanye's riding in his sports car in the middle of nowhere when he sees what seems to be an angel fallen on the road. He takes her with him, offers her Shelter and a small, comfortable place in his lifestyle. It's sadly not working out very well as the angel can't adapt to Kanye's rich and glamorous universe. She obviously likes him, but she can't stand the universe he's from. Uncomfortable situation ensues and...well...I won't spoil the ending, I'm not so sure I get it myself.
Runaway is based around Kanye's new album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and it could have been called just that. It's a series of beautiful dreamlike image with vague Freudian referrals. They represent the different stages of his relationship with the angel and it's safe to say it's an allegory for a real-life relationship that he fucked up. The angel represents the alien to Kanye's lifestyle and the redemption he sees in that person. My favorite scene is the one articulated around the song Runaway, where Kanye climbs on a piano and sings his heart out to the woman he's about to estrange. He's surrounded by black clothed ballerinas, which I think are supposed to represent his demons.
Sometimes, Kanye's ego is weighting down his artistic endeavor. The Runaway scene is beautiful, but choking with filler at the end as the song can't seem to end. The final is also pretty troubling if it means what I think it means. Anyway, Runaway is available for free on Kanye West's web site. You only have to find 34 minutes to watch it. Just go, come on! What are you waiting for?
SCORE: 79%
