Jesus Is King

I battled to get to my cinema to see Kanye West's new film Jesus is King through bitter winds and freezing temperatures.

I got to the cinema somewhat dishevelled but in one piece. This film was the perfect antidote to this. A gorgeous and very uplifting preview of Kanye's new gospel flavoured album that was full of passion and euphoria that is contagious and sweeps you along with the whole vibe of the piece.

The visuals are interesting and experimental. Images come in and out of focus and are framed what looks like a circular lens that acts as the frame for the visuals. This frame grows and shrinks according to what the music dictates. Architecture, nature and the actual gospel choir are all used to evoke imagery that gels brilliantly with the majesty of the music.

This cinematic curio exudes an element of artistic expression that is sorely missing with most mainstream, multi-million selling artists but never comes across as an artist trying his hardest to be 'arty'. It all feels organic, natural and like a very accomplished concert film that turns the genre on it's head. No, it's not as brilliant as The Last Waltz or Stop Making Sense but it is still a brilliant artistic achievement rather than some vapid, overlong commercial for Kanye's new album.

A(nother) project that Mr West can be proud of. And it sure beats the vapid releases of other huge artistes who could only dream of something as ambitious as this.

I was lucky enough to see this in IMAX which suited both the visuals and the sound perfectly. Kanye, the pleasure was all mine.

Imagine an Imax screen that's 4 stories high. Now imagine seeing a blurry photo of some thistles while choir music plays. It's jarring and at times nauseating. A lot of this video is shot with bad camera angles and very little movement of the camera. In fact it looks like the Heaven's Gate cult got back together to sing Gospel.

The good news is that the performance by the Sunday Service Choir is excellent. This music video disappointingly fails to showcase them as the vocal force they should be.

I don't know why they shot in this art installation. It makes the whole thing claustrophobic with its extreme close-ups. An audience doesn't need to see Kanye West's meter long chest hairs. An audience doesn't need to be made to feel cramped when IMAX is made to exude space.

Speaking of which, Kanye's barely on screen for 5 minutes. A lot of it, covered in shadow.

I recommend renting this one and enjoying it on your own TV with a promotion credit or something. It's really half an hour. The people in the audience that bought the large popcorn tubs and sodas didn't even have a chance to get started with their munching before the credits came up.

Short but very sweet like this review. Kanye shines a whole new light on the visual album experience with his new film

It definitely wasn't what I expected of Kanye but I loved the abstract cinematography and the choir was really nice. I think it's pretty neat how the film wasn't focused on Kanye as much and was instead focused solely on Jesus and His gospel. To see Kanye not sucking up all the attention and being self centered is pretty refreshing. I definitely was shocked when the end credits came up so early haha. I was hoping to see some more visuals and songs from his album but I guess he wanted it to be more raw and artistic. Overall I'm glad I saw it for the experience.

Kanye uses Kubrick-esque cinematography to explore raw musical ideas on the theme of worship. It's challenging for someone who just wants Kanye. It's a near-perfect glimpse inside his creative vision - beyond what a casual Kanye fan will appreciate. Will likely receive terrible reviews - which I believe is exactly in line with Kanye's vision for this project. As always, he challenges pop culture norms. People will "get it" in a few years when the culture catches up to him.