‘Jinsei’ Film Review: Ryuya Suzuki’s Hand-Drawn Animation Is A “One Man Show”

Now available on Digital, Jinsei is a hand-drawn animated feature from writer/director Ryuya Suzuki. The tale centers on a person (voiced by Ace Cool) who is called a different name during each part of his life. During his existence, he becomes a leader, an outsider, a J-pop idol, and an oracle. Did this 93-minute tale appeal to CinemAddicts hosts Eric Holmes? Check out his review!

Read more: ‘Jinsei’ Film Review: Ryuya Suzuki’s Hand-Drawn Animation Is A “One Man Show”

Jinsei Is An Ambitious Work From Ryuya Suzuki

Ryuya Suzuki also scored and edited the film, which makes Jinsei an impressive feat. Eric Holmes, however, would have loved to have seen the movie under an entirely different state. “For all intents and purposes, it’s is a one-man show,” said Eric Holmes. “So on that aspect, it’s pretty impressive. I think this would have been much better served if I had taken mushrooms before I watched it.”

Critiques On The Animation And Story Execution

Just from watching the trailer and checking out the images, I’m absolutely intrigued by Jinsei and plan on watching the movie. Currently, the film has an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Rounding out the Jinsei voice cast are Taketo Tanaka, Shohei Uno, Tsubaki Nekoze, Remi Tyon, Eri Kamataki, Ryotaro Nishino, Ayumi Nakajima, Katsuka Maiguma, Miho Ohashi, and Kanji Tsuda.

Expect a review from me down the road on CinemAddicts, and you can listen to Holmes’ review on our latest episode:

“The fact that it’s done by one guy is pretty cool,” added Holmes. “But the animation isn’t so mind-blowing. It’s pretty basic stuff. Most of the cool stuff is within context, but the way (Ryuya Suzuki) executed (the narrative) wasn’t that interesting.”

Jinsei’s Rating And Final Thoughts

“It’s just incredibly quiet, incredibly dry, and I was bored through most of it,” said Holmes. “Towards the end of the main character’s life – now we’re in the distant future. And that’s where it gets weird and where I started to like it a little bit. But I was still confused by it.”

Holmes gave Jinsei ⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of five stars, and his mild recommendation comes from Ryuya Suzuki’s ambitious approach. “With more thought behind it and maybe some more input from other people, Jinsei could have been something real special,” said Holmes. “They could have really harnessed the idea and ran with it a little more.”

Eric Holmes’ full review of Jinsei:

Since we cover so many movies per week on CinemAddicts, there are movies that I simply can’t get around to reviewing. Jinsei is definitely on my radar even with Holmes’ lukewarm reaction to the movie.

If you have seen Jinsei, please share your review and thoughts in the comments!

Jinsei is now available on Digital.

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