“We Were Once A Fairytale,” an almost 10-minute film that isn’t a music video but contains snippets of “See You in My Nightmares,” was posted Sunday on West’s website.
Although Jonze, whose big screen adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are” opened last week, shot the rough footage for the project in January, the plot of the beyond bizarre collaboration eerily mirrors recent events in the rapper’s life.
As the clip opens we see West in a nightclub and he’s – what else? – crunk. He spends some time pointing out to the other clubgoers that the song the DJ is spinning is his, clumsily hits on various women, wanders around and annoys people, and finally takes to the dance floor where he shakes his stuff and sings along with the music while becoming increasingly disconnected.
Eventually he hooks up with a woman and they begin getting down to business, but the fun doesn’t last long because our hero passes out. After regaining conciousness – in the VIP area with his pants around his ankles – he realizes he’s just done the nasty with a pillow.
Understandably skeeved out, he hits the bathroom, projectile ralphs flower petals everywhere and hits the floor: And that’s when things really get weird.
Lying on the floor, he discovers a humongous knife, which he then proceeds to use to disembowel himself, releasing more flower petals in the process. Once the cut is made, he reaches into his stomach and pulls out a freaky little creature that’s connected to him by an umbilical cord.
The two of them contemplate each other for a few seconds (one starry-eyed and the other slightly beaten) before West severs the cord, plops his inner demon onto a counter and hands it a tiny knife drawn from the one he just gutted himself with.
As Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" plays in the background, the creature silently implores the singer for mercy, but Kanye holds steadfast, and as the demon commits hari kari, he stands resolutely by with tears in his eyes.
The first time I watched the film, I found myself thinking, “What the heck was that? It’s finally happened. He’s completely lost it.” And while some people may see the work as West acknowledging that he’s got some serious issues, it just strikes me as incredibly self-indulgent and self-pitying.
Here’s a newsflash for Kanye. If your behavior is out of control and your life is a mess because of it, there’s a simple solution: Don’t behave badly. Think about what you’re doing and saying before you do it.
Amazingly, West (or someone else involved) has apparently had second thoughts about the film. It was yanked from the rapper’s website overnight and replaced with the cryptic message: “SORRY I HAD TO TAKE IT DOWN :( ” (While I’m thinking about it, can someone please disable the caps lock key on all of Kanye’s computers?)
Although the New York Times tried to contact reps for West and Jonze to get the scoop on what’s going on, they didn’t respond.
So what do you think? Could this be a sudden attack of common sense or is something else going on here?
Watch the film for yourself and decide. (At post time this link still worked, but they’re being pulled down from all over the Internet as fast as Kanye and his lawyers can arrange it. So when it quits working, let me know and I’ll find another one.)