Piece by Piece is a movie the place kind and story collide collectively in a enjoyable and fantastical sense. A documentary about famed producer and musician Pharrell Williams would already be an intriguing premise. For any mildly acquainted with him, he’s identified for his eclectic fashion and persona, which has possible influenced his musical abilities and result in the success he’s had. Becoming, then, that he and Morgan Neville come collectively to do a novel spin on the documentary by depicting his life solely via LEGO. Pushing the definition of documentary, Piece by Piece is a heartwarming story of 1 man’s dream to carry the world up via sound.
At first, this can be a documentary. It isn’t a biopic informed via LEGOs or any narrative sort characteristic. The movie establishes out of the gate that it’s documentary by having the LEGO illustration of Pharrell sit down for an interview with Neville that’s “shot” similar to every other documentary. It’s a weird tactic, however when you get to know Pharrell all through the runtime, you perceive precisely why Pharrell would need such an unorthodox method to his life. It permits for fantastical representations of moments of his life, from assembly Snoop Dogg, seeing sounds as chaotic mashes of smaller LEGO bits, and being elevated to house by the music burning inside his soul. Can or not it’s referred to as a documentary when it’s all a LEGO recreation of issues that each did and didn’t actually occur? This movie appears to reply sure and push the boundaries of this type of filmmaking.
One might name this method a gimmick, however it lends itself to the life story of Pharrell. Not like lots of the musical biopics we all know, Pharrell isn’t somebody who fell exhausting into dependancy and substance abuse. His life story is definitely completely different, and the Lego mode of storytelling helps deliver out the brightness of his life and the way he sees the world. That’s to not say his story is with out drama or battle. The sooner years of his life included years of grinding it out, looking for consideration and success. However Pharrell is a really optimistic persona, and the movie is infused together with his brightness.
That is a lot the case that when the movie does strive a second act downturn, it nearly feels contrived. The character of the downturn feels obscure previous a normal description that Pharrell was struggling to seek out musical inspiration. And that’s maybe the place the documentary suffers essentially the most. As I’ve typically remarked, documentaries about topics nonetheless dwelling can typically really feel sanitized, as few wish to immediately confront the darkest components of themselves. Given Pharrell’s heavy involvement, it seems like areas of potential drama which might be there do get skipped previous.
However the movie is simple to forgive given how “blissful” it could actually make you are feeling. Pharrell has a deep love for music and the way it change individuals’s lives and hearts. The movie greater than something positions his life story as wanting to make use of music to maneuver individuals’s souls. And in the event you didn’t know simply how concerned Pharrell has been with among the largest hits for the previous roughly 30 years, the movie is eye-opening about his expertise at discovering sounds that join with individuals. From pop to rock and hip-hop, Pharrell has dabbled in all of it and introduced hits for artists as diverse as Snoop Dogg, Nelly, and Gwen Stefani.
One might need there was only a tad extra dramatic substance to Piece By Piece, however this can be a minor criticism of an in any other case pretty documentary. Neville demonstrates that after once more he’s an emphatic documentarian and understands the way to faucet into the center of his topics and present the world who they’re at their essence. He did so with Bourdain, Fred Rogers, and now with Pharrell. Even in the event you don’t like Pharrell’s music, Piece by Piece is a movie value seeing for its distinctive method.
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