1 hour 37 minutes.
Nuanced. Cinematic. Biased.
This final episode of jeen-yuhs centres on Kanye’s recent, most controversial years. In light of Kanye’s current controversy and actions, the context that this documentary is being released and viewed in is unavoidable. If you’re expecting extreme criticism or even mild objectivity, you’ll be disappointed. However, I think it has been clear from the beginning that this documentary is clearly biased. Kanye is credited as being a producer for this documentary, but even if he wasn’t, it is filmed and edited by one of his best friends of 30 years. I don’t think I’ve watched a documentary truly free of bias, and I question whether I’d want to. What I do want is transparency about bias, and with Coodie as such a present narrator, jeen-yuhs clearly is. This documentary series has been visually so entertaining, and in this episode particularly you can see Coodie’s development and changes as a film maker. It felt a bit like leafing through letters and seeing someone’s handwriting change over years, but still recognise it as theirs. It is a marvel of archival footage, and an engaging study of friendship, fame, influence and mental health.
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