14 DAY TRIAL // Kanye West has been laying low for quite a while, either because he’s finally taking the holiday he was talking about some time ago on Jay Leno or because he simply doesn’t feel like facing the backlash for what he did to Taylor Swift at the VMAs, an incident people still talk about. With this in mind, an 11-minute, short film in which the rapper plays himself debuted over the weekend and was instantly pulled down from his official website amidst speculation that it hit too close to home, MTV says.
Shot over a two-day period under the direction of Spike Jonze, “We Were Once a Fairytale” sees Kanye as himself on a night out clubbing. The first two or so minutes of the clip, which does not function as a music video for any track in particular but is “framed” by Kanye’s “See You in My Nightmares” almost in its entirety, show the rapper as an inebriated but fun clubgoer. However, as it progresses, it becomes clear that there is more to this than meets the eye, as the viewer is slowly taken in by the eeriness of the situation. Kanye West, as portrayed by Kanye West, is a broken man.
“The short film begins with West acting pleasantly tipsy in a nightclub, yelling to adoring club kids that the song blasting over the speakers is his. Not getting the reaction he expected from his audience, the tuxedo-clad singer stumbles across the club making random inappropriate comments to women who seem unimpressed with his fame. After bumping into Fonzworth Bentley, West grinds on the dance floor, singing along to his own song at the top of his lungs in an impressionistic blur of rich blues, red and purples, his eyes seriously glazed over.” MTV writes of the short film.
He then stumbles to a backstage VIP room, where a gorgeous woman embraces him telling him that, “It’s OK” and they make love. It’s not OK, though, and West wakes up even more confused, realizing perhaps that the woman did not even exist. He tries to make his way back to the dancing floor, but becomes sick on the way and asks for the bathroom. Once there, he starts vomiting blood, beautifully rendered by red confetti / rose petals, and then collapses on the floor.
“Lying on the tile, he finds a big bowie knife and uses it to cut his stomach open, which leads to another rose-petal cascade. And then things get even more bizarre, as Kanye digs deeper with the knife, reaching in to grab a small, kinda cute rodent-like demon, connected to its host by an umbilical cord. The ratlike creature stares lovingly at West, who seems sad, defeated and a bit confused at the sight.” MTV says. Yet one must die for the other to be reborn, and the ratlike demon kills himself with a miniature knife that West himself gives him.
As noted above, Kanye West pulled the video from his website only hours after uploading it. He offered no explanation for it other than, “Sorry I had to take it down.” See “We Were Once a Fairtytale” by director Spike Jonze starring Kanye West over at the Examiner. *Caution is advised for strong language and depiction of violence.