Piece by Piece: LFF Film Review
Pharrell Williams puts a fresh spin on the tired music documentary formula by bringing his story to life with LEGO figures in Piece by Piece. Yes, you read that right – this is a music doc told with LEGO!
This film, directed by Morgan Neville, charts Williams’s upbringing in Virginia Beach, his rise to fame with the Neptunes, his work as a producer for the likes of Nelly, Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z, and his solo success with the 2013 mega-hit Happy.
I was a bit dubious about this project but I had such a great time. The film is visually creative, vibrant, playful and a whole lot of fun. You simply can’t take it seriously watching LEGO figures instead of real people, especially when talking heads like Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott and Snoop Dogg voice themselves as LEGO recreations. Because it is animated, the film can incorporate fantastical elements, such as flying and going to space, and take liberties visually, making it much more entertaining than your usual documentary.
The film also has a fantastic sense of humour and I found myself laughing out loud constantly. The Snoop Dogg sequence is particularly hilarious as Williams gets high on “PG spray” in the studio – they clearly can’t mention Snoop’s marijuana habit in the family-friendly film. The story is very meta – it’s aware it’s a documentary – with director Neville also making a LEGO appearance as he interviews Williams about his story.
It really helps if you know Williams’s work as a producer. I grew up on many of these tracks and I know the music videos so I got such a nostalgic kick out of hearing the tunes and seeing the LEGO recreations of the videos (especially the raunchy ones like Mystikal‘s Shake Ya Ass). Williams made many great songs so the soundtrack – featuring the likes of Drop It Like It’s Hot, Get Lucky, Hollaback Girl – put me in the dancing mood.
However, if you take away the LEGO angle, it would expose how lightweight this story is. Piece by Piece is a shallow, surface-level puff piece that wants to focus on the positives and skip over the negatives. Every music documentary needs to feature a dark time and Williams only admits to becoming arrogant and egotistical before the story restores him to his former glory. It skips over the reason behind the end of the Neptunes, the controversy over the Blurred Lines lyrics and him losing a copyright infringement trial over the song (alongside Robin Thicke). It also doesn’t know how to wrap things up and doesn’t even mention he’s now the men’s creative director of Louis Vuitton.
Piece by Piece is a refreshing music documentary that is unique, hilarious and filled with genius moments – just don’t expect to find much depth and substance.
Seen at the London Film Festival. In cinemas from Friday 8th November