The reviews for Kanye West’s four and a half hour epic jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy are in.
The doco was directed by Chize Ozah and Clarence ‘Coodie’ Simmons and is broken into three 90-minute parts.
The parts are titled: ‘Vision’, ‘Purpose’ and ‘Awakening’
Though it is not yet available to watch, jeen-yuhs premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Jordan Mintzer, of The Hollywood Reporter, described it as a “fairly lucid and endearing portrait of the artist as a young Yeezy trying to make it as a rap superstar.”
“Jeen-yuhs offers a front row look at what it takes to thrive in the cutthroat climate of the hip-hop biz,” continues Mintzer. “[It’s about] a gifted young man whose drive for success was so prodigious that it eventually drove him mad.”
“The madness taking the form of numerous onstage incursions at the Grammy Awards, online and televised rants, and a run for US president in 2020.”
“If you don’t care about his musical acumen… Then you probably shouldn’t tune in. But for hip-hop heads there’s a lot to embrace.”
“The directors go down dark alleys but are unabashedly in love with their subject,” says Chris Willman of Variety. “His brain chemistry, his moments of transcendence, his overachieving and under-empathizing… These may look like things we’ve glimpsed in the mirror, too.”
“It’s remarkable how much material Simmons shot during West’s pre-fame days,” says Tim Grierson of ScreenDaily. “It’s hard to miss how impressed peers like Pharrell Williams are when they first hear these tracks, realising they’d underestimated his talent.”
“Although it’s a cliche, jeen-yuhs legitimately gives the sense of watching a star being born.”
“The documentary seeks to satisfy on both fronts. Although, the filmmakers perhaps try too hard to find a happy ending to an ongoing saga whose outcome is far from determined.”
Catch the first part of Jeen-yuhs on Netflix, on February 16th.
For now, watch the trailer below!
