celebfreak99: Kanye West's NYC Fans Liken 'Runaway' Film To 'Thriller'

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Kanye West's NYC Fans Liken 'Runaway' Film To 'Thriller'

'He's really, truly a visionary,' one fan says. 'This was an amazing film.'
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Hillary Crosley

Kanye West
Photo: Michael Loccisano/ Getty Images

On Thursday, Kanye West took his rolling "Runaway" road show to New York City for the final screening of the film before its Saturday night premiere (on MTV and MTV2 8 p.m. ET), and though he hails from Chicago — where "Runaway" screened earlier this week — West was clearly feeling the love in the Big Apple, the city he considers his second home.

"It's just the energy and my second home," West told MTV News. "And this is the biggest premiere so far, and the last one — and the closest one — to when it's actually going to premiere on TV — so I'm just really excited."

And that excitement was shared by everyone in the house at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema, who witnessed "Runaway" and then shared their reactions with MTV News.

"I feel like he's the new Wu-Tang, like, it's going to take a while for people to fully process that. The art, the ballet, everything he brought into that, his emotion," Rahim Wright said. "The 'Runaway' piece itself, anything you kind of thought on the Internet you had an idea about, it's completely different. ... [It's] the new 'Thriller' in my opinion, and people are going to have to battle with that, but you're going to have to figure Kanye out. You can't just take it at face value and think that you know what he's talking about."

The comparisons didn't just stop there. Another fan went even further (back), comparing "Runaway" to the work of none other than the Purple One himself, Prince.

"I thought the film was incredibly inspiring, I thought it was visually exciting and I think everyone should go back to the drawing board," Bevy Smith said. "I think that it's the modern day version of [the 1986 Prince film] 'Under the Cherry Moon.' When Prince came out with that film, it was widely panned, but when you look at it now, with a clearer eye, and with so much mediocrity going on in the world, you see that he was a real visionary. And Kanye is like his child. He's really, truly a visionary. This was an amazing film."

What are you expecting from Kanye's "Runaway" short film? Share your predictions in the comments!

Kanye West's "Runaway" will premiere on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on MTV, MTV2 and BET, and will also stream live on MTV.com, BET.com and VH1.com, followed by a live Q&A session on MTV and MTV.com.

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