When I first heard the premise for Kanye West’s short film Runaway, I had my doubts. A 35 minute movie about a guy who dates a phoenix that has fallen to earth could have turned out so bad. But after watching Runaway, I’ll admit it was actually good. And after seeing Selita Ebanks in the phoenix costume, I think I now would also like to date a phoenix.
Of course there are crazy things here like Nicki Minaj narrating in her British accent in the beginning or that weird dinner scene. But thing again, this is Kanye we’re talking about. Also, he still can’t act. But that’s not a problem since this is more musical/music video than movie (You still gotta call it a movie since there’s a sex scene in it right?).
Kanye also directed Runaway and you can tell one of his influences is Hype Williams. Actually, if I was to describe the look of the film I’d say it is a cross between a Hype Williams music video and Lars von Trier’s Antichrist (That’s a good thing). Runaway is definitely different in terms of mostly all Hip-Hop music videos released but it does a great job of presenting the music. All the songs used in Runaway are great and make you anticipate hearing My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Update: Watch the Q&A Kanye did with MTV after Runaway debuted