Overlooked Film of the Week-#69
Runaway
I
haven’t had a chance to discuss any short films on this blog so far, so I felt
today would be a good time. I suppose I should say that this is the first time
I have discussed a short musical film on this blog. Kanye West is one of those
stars where I may find his personal life questionable; I think his music is
utterly amazing. Yeah, I may not be Taylor Swift’s biggest admirer, but what
West did at the MTV Video Music Awards a few years back was disgusting. But when
it comes to his music, none of that matters to me. West is always pushing
himself as an artist, and his 2010 album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”
is one of the best mainstream albums of the last five years. It has been argued
that the hit from West’s 2010 album, “Runaway” was West’s new rise to fame and
he created a 30-minute short film based on the song.
Kanye
West plays Griffin, a rich drifter who we see running from a fire with his
shirt undone as the film begins. Then as West’s song “Dark Fantasy” begins to
play, we see a massive fireball headed towards Earth. We now see a well
put-together Griffin driving an expensive car through a forest, right as the
fireball crashes into the forest. Griffin pulls over and sees a phoenix (Selita
Ebanks) and he eventually comes to fall in love with the phoenix, as he shows
her the sights of Earth, all around the background of West’s album. There is
not a lot of talking in this short film, and it definitely feels like a
30-minute music video at times. I couldn’t tell you much about West as an
actor, but he does alright in his few scenes of actual acting. The work by
Ebanks is actually quite nice.
This
is not the first time a music video has undertaken extreme cinematic roots.
West drew inspiration from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video (there is a
moment in this film in which we see a huge, paper-mache Jackson head.) as well
as Pink Floyd’s “Purple Rain” and “The Wall.” But what makes “Runaway” stand
out is the sheer power of the art on the surface. Like I said above, I don’t
agree with everything West does in his personal life, but there is no doubt
that he is a true artist. As far as directorial inspiration goes, West claimed
that he looked at Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick for inspiration. As the
film opens in a foggy forest as West drives down a long, winding road, it is
hard not to see the inspiration from Fellini, as well as the surreal dance
number during West’s performance of his song “Runaway.” I definitely see
Kubrick in the moments of fast-paced montages and extreme camera angles and
close-ups, such as with the scene when West brings the phoenix to see fireworks
in the desert. It is clear what West is channeling in his short film, however
it is also clear to see how original the piece really is and that is pretty
awesome.
What
really makes this “30-minute music video” feel like something more is well a
storyteller West and his team are when bringing this short film together. If
you listen to West’s song “Runaway,” I interpret as a song about a guy who has
finally met the woman of his dreams, but he can’t hold onto her because he an
obsessive-compulsive behavior to chase other women, yet he still wants to be
with this “good girl,” even though he can’t help but be with other women too.
The song can also be interpreted about a man who doesn’t believe in the term “the
grass is greener on the other side” or maybe he relishes that term too much.
The song is about a guy that is never satisfied by anything or anybody, which
has led to an unfulfilled, eventless life. In the short film “Runaway” we kind
of see how Griffin parallels West’s song. He seems to find true love when he
meets the phoenix, but all he shows her are the un-pure, non-innocent parts of
our world, which urges her to leave, even though Griffin is desperate for her
to say. “Runaway” is not just thirty minutes of pretty pictures that are
striving for meaning, “Runaway” is true art given life onscreen.
I
think you give the time to check out “Runaway,” you will see that Kanye West is
more than rapper and a bad boy, he is a true artist. He really went big and
ambitious with this short film, and it all paid off for him.
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