PIECE BY PIECE Reviewed by GREG KING
Documentary
Director: Morgan Neville
Stars: Pharrell Williams.
“If life was like a Lego box we could shape it how we like,” says multi-Grammy award winning singer, hip hop artist and record producer Pharrell Williams.
Thus we get this unconventional and genre-defying documentary about Williams, best known for his Oscar-nominated song Happy, from the film Despicable Me 2. While the filmmakers follow the usual template for a documentary about a musician, Piece By Piece takes a different approach to the material. Neither a straight documentary or even a mockumentary, this is a “blockumentary” as it is animated in the same style as the recent Lego movies, with all the characters and sets animated in the same colourful style. Piece By Piece is the sixth Lego-inspired feature film, but the first to explore real life characters rather than fictional characters.But with its attempt to make Williams’ story more accessible their unusual approach actually keeps the audience at a distance. The novelty factor also wears off pretty quickly.
The film traces Williams’ life from his early childhood growing up in Virginia Beach, where he was raised in a housing project, through to his obsession with music in high school to his ultimate success in the music industry and even his involvement in a variety of social justice causes. His early love of music was inspired by his grandmother but it really flourished in high school when, along with his best friend Chad Hugo, he played in the school marching band. He and Hugo also formed the music group The Neptunes. Williams also suffered from synesthesia, which allowed him to visualise the music in colours.
Then legendary producer Teddy Riley, who had worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, opened up his own recording studio in Virginia Beach, adjacent to the high school and the young Williams began working there. Williams eventually went on to produce records for Britney Spears, NSYNC, Limp Biskit, No Doubt, Nelly, Jay-Z and Ludacris.
Piece By Piece marks the animated feature film debut for veteran documentary and tv director Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, etc). He incorporates some revealing and amusing interviews with Williams’ family, friends and musical collaborators, including Gwen Stefani, Riley and Justin Timberlake, who all appear as Lego figures, thus subverting the usual talking heads approach familiar to most documentaries. But he also takes many liberties with Williams’ life and avoids any controversial moments, thus sanitising his story for public consumption.
Piece By Piece is a story of the determination, resilience, confidence and self-belief required to become a successful artist as well as the creative process. There are some stunning and very colourful visual flourishes throughout the film. And, of course, there is a superb soundtrack drawn extensively from older songs from Williams’ back catalogue, although he wrote five new songs for this film.
★★★
