“Ninety-Five Senses” is a 2024 Oscar-nominated film for best animated short film. While the film is only 13 minutes long, it captures many heartfelt emotions like empathy, regret, anger, desolation, and acceptance.

The film follows the narration of an elderly man who reflects on many significant parts of his growing up that affected his life greatly. With not much time left, he targets each of the five senses and how each of them guided him through his life and got him to where he is today.

Tim Blake Nelson, the voice actor of the main character, does an incredible job amplifying the emotions and stories we hear, creating a much stronger connection to our feelings. Nelson has a deep and soothing voice that many find super relaxing and interesting to listen to, much like how many people say Morgan Freeman has the most calming voice of all time. The animations alongside Nelson’s voice work created a story with a whole bunch more passion in the emotions that are being described. Each of the five senses, one at a time, is used to describe different parts of his life with a ton of detail that makes the viewer feel as if they can feel similar emotions to the ones that are being told. The true meaning of why he is expressing all of these memories through his senses is to reflect on the path that he took that got him to where he is today. His past has many cheerful memories, such as him looking back at the smell of chlorine when he was swimming as a kid. On the other hand, his past also has many memories that he regrets. In the film, that side is explored, creating a big twist that surprises many viewers and leads them to many big emotions.

The title “Ninety-Five Senses” is referred to in the film. The main character explains how everyone is born with one hundred senses but we are aware of only five of them when we are alive: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Those ninety-five other senses make up what we feel in the afterlife, once our time on earth has come to an end.

Many emotions are explored in this film. There is death and violence in this film as the story replays his younger self’s experience. A big twist in the middle of the film made a giant impact on how the story unfolds. This film is meant to have the viewer feel many different emotions throughout it. T0 feel what the main character felt through his life and how he regrets his actions.

The story leaves viewers feeling sad and happy at the same time. The film sorts through many different emotions that almost anyone can relate to, which makes a much bigger impact. With the film being a great contestant in its nomination, I highly recommend this film to be on your watch list. I heavily enjoyed every second of this film and see myself watching it many times again in the future.

Rating: ★★★★★