RUNAWAY

so i got around to watching 'runaway', a short film just made by kanye west et al.

though it's often described as a short film, i feel that it's just better to call it a long music video. it's a fantastic piece of work, but i find that there is little in terms of coherence or plot.

of course, the plot is very simple, a phoenix crashes down to earth (ebanks) and is soon discovered by griffin (west). they have a romantic relationship, but shit happens when phoenix has trouble coping with the oddness of earth, griffin is troubled when he finds that he can't stay with her.

i had a few grievances with the video, for one, west and ebanks are rather lousy when it comes to delivering dramatic dialogue. otherwise, their film presence is fine. i have also been a tad puzzled by a popular interpretation i've seen in various forums, apparently the key to understanding the video is at the beginning when west awkwardly says "first rule of this world baby, is don't pay attention to anything you see on the news" which is mean't to refer to how irritated west is at the way the media portrays him. this may be true, but you need much more than that to support this interpretation.

on that note, it's pretty clear that the whole message is that society doesn't accept things that are different. this is supported by the various reactions to phoenix, the dinner scene and several lines of dialogue. i have noticed some other potential metaphors, but that's not what i'm here to discuss.

the visuals are fantastic, there's nothing particularly innovative (though it may seem so to west's mainstream audience). the opening bit was sort of messy in my opinion, on my screen it was really dark and somewhat hard to see. the rest of the video is colourful and has some very good cinematography.

this is a music video, so the music better be damn good (it is). this supplements the 'runaway' part of the video extremely well, it exaggerates hypnotic aspect of the ballet dance even further.

overall, this is a fine project by west, and where it screws up in dialogue and story it makes up for with visuals and music. just try not to see it as something amazing and revolutionary. it really is just a long, but great music video.