In Whose Name? review Kanye's descent makes for grimly compelling watch

"'What was Kanye West thinking?' has remained a prevailing question since the Grammy award-winning rapper-producer pulled the rip cord on his spectacular descent into rightwing nihilism more than a decade ago. In Whose Name?, a cinema verite take on the tortured musical genius (who goes by just Ye now), offers fans and long-term observers a new artifact to pore over in search of answers and reason to be disappointed all over again."

"Director Nico Ballesteros who started filming in 2018, at age 18, with nothing to recommend him (his stint as a second assistant director on a Jesus Is King concert video came later) had sweeping access to Ye and made the distinctive choice not to layer it with any talking-head commentary for context. Mostly, he turns on the camera, holds a tight focus on his subject and lets the rest drift in and out of frame."

"The laissez-faire approach, which benefits from having an artistic savant on the opposite end of the lens, would seem to owe less to Ballesteros's relative inexperience than to the fact that Ye simply cannot suffer anything that might push back on his self-assured worldview; that's even as Ye confirms, on camera and without hint of irony, what many have suspected for years: that he's gone off his meds."

Whose Name? compiles over 3,000 hours of footage into a 104-minute cinéma vérité portrait of Ye. Filming began in 2018 under director Nico Ballesteros, who had sweeping access and chose to exclude talking-head commentary. The camera stays tightly focused on Ye, capturing candid moments and reverse perspectives on viral stunts and rants. On camera, Ye confirms he has gone off his medication and at one point confesses to bipolar disorder while in cat-face makeup. The film presents Ye's inability to tolerate dissent, documenting explosive tantrums and the perception of disagreement as a personal attack.

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