Original documentary about the life and career of hip-hop superstar Pharrell Williams, which was made entirely with Lego bricks.
FAST FACTS:
• Sensational biopic in the style of a Lego documentary about Pharrell Williams
• By Oscar winner Morgan Neville
• Sensation at the Telluride and Toronto festivals
• Closing film of the London Film Festival
• Top 5 opening in US cinemas
CREDITS:
Country/Year: USA 2024; Running time: 93 minutes; Director: Morgan Neville; Screenplay: Morgan Neville, Oscar Vazquez, Aaron Wickenden; Cast: Pharrell Williams, Morgan Neville, Kendrick Lamar, Gwen Stefani, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg; Rental: Universal; Start: January 23, 2025
REVIEW:
Pretty much at the beginning of “Piece By Piece“ describes Pharrell Williams his first perception of music as a small boy as a physical experience, as if he perceived the sounds like colors and lights: Stevie Wonder and “Songs in the Key of Life” as a cosmic trip. If you want to do justice to the musician, singer and producer from Virginia Island, who has shaped hip hop with his unmistakable beats and unusual harmonies like few others over the last 25 years, in a film without simply retelling his life, you have to find a way to find images for his musical feeling. That may have been the origin of the idea of making a documentary and then re-making it with Lego bricks, a sparkling, glittering thing that seems to explode in all colors and directions – a bit like how you feel when you have one hearing these wonderful, strange confections from the forge of Pharrell and the Neptunes for the first time, “Milkshake“ von The road„Shake Ya Ass“ von Mystical or “Like I Love You” by Justin Timberlake, as if beamed down from another galaxy to bring peace and joy. Dance with your heart or don’t dance at all.
„Piece By Piece“ von Morgan Neville (Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)
Of course, there is great debate about whether a film animated entirely with Lego can be called a documentary. Anyone who focuses on this discussion has not understood what it is about. Exploding conventions, breaking rules, reinventing, taking apart and reassembling, piece by piece, Lego brick by Lego brick, is intrinsic to the art of Pharrell Williams, who combines everyday sounds with classic drums to craft his beats and cadences. Anything that sounds good and makes you dance is allowed. It could be a simple click of the tongue like “Drop It Like It’s Hot“ von Snoop Doggpossibly the quintessential Pharrell jam, his credo condensed into a perfect four minutes of pop. “Piece By Piece”, certainly the most unusual film, works in a similar way Morgan Neville so far, who won an Oscar for best documentary in 2018 for his famous “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” about Mr. Rodgers and had already set standards this year with his two-part documentary about Steve Martin on Apple TV+.
„Piece By Piece“ von Morgan Neville (Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)
How do I serve this thing called life? Pharrell Williams asks this question towards the end of the film. It is his realization after a career that only went uphill after a sheltered childhood with two parents who always supported his creativity because they never wanted to straighten out the unusual boy with the exuberant imagination, after his beginnings as a protégé of the most successful producer at the time black music, New Jack Swing co-founder Teddy Riley, had all the big stars line up to be produced by him and pick up one of his brilliant beats, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake and and and, and then a sudden crash and a panicked crisis of meaning. How do I serve this thing called life? It is the insight of a man whose life has shattered into pieces, who was a fashion icon and influencer before the term even existed, and who has to put it back together piece by piece. And only now can he create the two biggest hits of his life. First “Get Lucky“ von Daft Punk and a little later, when he tries to find an equivalent for his little son’s simple joy of life, “Happyunder his own name.
„Piece by Piece“ von Morgan Neville (Credit: 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
Basically, it’s a success story like we’ve seen many times before – rise, fall, repentance, redemption, reinvention. That Morgan Neville tells them with Lego, all sorts of stars and companions, in addition to those mentioned above, among others Timbaland and Missy Elliottwho attended the same school as Pharrell, Jay-Z or N.O.R.E., to have their say and then brought to life as plastic figures, “Piece By Piece” gives it a special spin, an extra twist, because after a while you no longer really notice how a supposedly conventional scene turns into a visual spin, a journey unfolds that would be impossible with a live action film. And there is always the music, there are the beats, there are the melodies, there is the hope that comes with it that we can all come together, a nation under one groove. This film makes you happy. Happy. Even.
Thomas Schultze
