Release Date – 8th November 2024, Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 34 minutes, Director – Morgan Neville
Biographical documentary charting the life of Pharrell Williams, and his rise in the music industry, told through Lego animation.
Colour pours of the speakers as a smile spreads across the face of a young Lego Pharrell Williams. Discovering a world of soul and music everything becomes that bit more brighter for him, his eyes set on working in the music industry. Piece By Piece has already been bright and colourful up until this point, it’s a key factor of the Lego animation used throughout to tell the story of Williams’ rise in the industry in this imaginative documentary that takes the form and runs with it for the better.
“To me, the most common thread in this world is a feeling, and trust me, people just wanna feel good” Williams says about what goes into the beats and music he’s made throughout his career. Cutaway scenes burst into fantasy capture his own personal otherworldly feelings throughout his life. At just 94-minutes, there’s a fast pace which brings about a further energy already brought about by the music present from start to finish. It all combines to create not just a truly fun time but a film with real personality. One that doesn’t use its animation style as a gimmick as it’s clear from the opening stages that it’s being truly used to push and enhance the story and joy at hand.
Joy is the core focus here, creating a good time by charting the successes of Williams from school, to his early producing work as one half of The Neptunes and up until his more recent mega-hits such as Happy and Get Lucky. Struggle isn’t something that it seems the film, which he co-produces, overly wants to focus on (even being viewed as simply a biopic it’s even more of a hagiography than Bohemian Rhapsody). While peeking its head in the latter stages it’s not for long, more serious moments tend not to fully hit within the confines of the rest of the film – unless building up to a point of further success and exploring creativity and what music can do from another angle, particularly referenced in Williams’ 2015 collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, Alright.
When announced as the closing film for this year’s London Film Festival, and indeed up until its screening, there was some confusion as to why this particular title was chosen for this; it doesn’t strike as a traditional closing film. Was there something spectacular about a Lego-movie-style animated Pharrell Williams documentary? It makes more sense when you look at the film’s exploration of creativity, and indeed the intense creativity that it displays in jumping from talking heads to recreations and blending fantastical elements into each. I was prepared to like this particular film, not knowing a great deal about Williams or having knowingly heard a great deal of his music (and then finding out from the film just how much he’s been involved in). My expectations were very quickly blown away.
Multiple sequences caused a big smile to spread across my face, wrapped up in the pure joy radiating from the animation on screen. Animation which houses plenty of humour, both in cutaway gags and simple phrases from the many famous faces interviewed throughout – Snoop Dogg’s appearance makes for a particular highlight. One of the biggest surprises of the year, Piece By Piece is also one of the most fun and entertaining cinematic experiences of the year. A burst of energetic colour and sound from start to finish combining to create a celebration of creativity and pursuing your passion.
While not dwelling on struggles, Piece By Piece is a joyous explosion of sound and colour, using the Lego animation format to emphasise the celebration of imagination and creativity. A fun joy from start to finish.
Just A Little Bit Random 