Sundance Review: Netflix Documentary ‘Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy’
deadline.comKanye’s demands for the final cut on Jeen-yuhs makes its Sundance premiere all the more fascinating.The three-part Netflix documentary directed by Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah is raw, rambling and riveting in equal measure.
The press screener – labeled ‘Work In Progress’ – features previously unseen footage from 21 years of the performing artist’s life.
It’s far from an exhaustive biography, but it offers an intriguing insight into hip hop, fame, race, grief, mental health and perhaps most of all, friendship.In Act 1: “Vision”, Coodie’s voiceover veers between interesting and intrusive as he narrates the process of making the documentary through the prism of his relationship with Kanye.“He knew it would take a lot for him to earn people’s respect as a rapper,” he says, as we watch the young producer touting his wares at record companies.
Coodie and Ozah keep the camera rolling during late-night recording sessions, car journeys and parties, capturing a good number of monologues that demonstrate the young Kanye West’s self-belief – though these seem more self-aware in the early days.“Doing this documentary right now, it’s a little narcissistic or whatever, but f**k it,” he says.
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