I was not prepared for the emotional journey that Jerusha & Jared Hess’ Ninety-Five Senses took me on. The Animated Short Film contender mixes animation styles to pain the picture of one man grappling with his own acceptance of death. Everyone will be able to latch onto something in this film. Anchored by an incredible performance by Tim Blake Nelson, Ninety-Five Senses offers a comforting and intelligent confrontation of life’s final journey.
Sense memory is one of the most vital tools we carry as human beings. If your walk passed a stranger on the street, their perfume might remind you of the same one your mother wore. The texture of a coat or blanket might send you back to the one you shared with a love on a cold winter’s night. Our senses surprise us almost every day since they are hard-wired into our memories.
Ninety-Five Senses is told from the perspective of Coy, an older man set to be executed on death row. He recounts the smell of chlorine in the pool or the smell of vanilla in the beauty parlor as he waiting for his grandmother to finish her weekly appointment. We all have moments that echo through our brains as memories–I wonder why some stay prevalent and some fade away? Coy gives us some insight as to how his fellow inmates make a last meal, but he also reveals a fantasy that surges through his brain of how his life could’ve been different. With every turn, the animation changes upon itself, the colors never stopping motion as Nelson imbues Coy’s story with humor and verve.
Both Hess and Nelson admit that they thought about death in a different way while working on this film. Hess, known for working on comedic films like Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre, and Gentlemen Broncos, felt a pull to tell a story of an experience that we, as humans, will all go through. I was so impressed with how Nelson gives Coy such a full, distinct life. He is an actor who gives every character he embodies gorgeous textures, and his voicework truly shines.
Imagine how different our experiences with death will be. Death is a mystery to all of us, and each of our journeys will come to a distinct end. The mysteries of death still linger, but Ninety-Five Senses allows us a sense of calm and wonder.
