A musical biopic that’s built differently.
Piece By Piece is the latest offering in an annual stream of biographical films based on musicians. In this case the subject is the dynamic singer and writer Pharrell Williams who is also part of the production duo The Neptunes, and the band N.E.R.D. The Film starts off with Pharrell being interviewed by director Morgan Neville. Morgan Neville has carved out a name for himself in filmmaking by creating a long catalog of documentaries on a wide range of creatives such as Mr. Rogers, Anthony Bourdain, and Steve Martin. After the introduction it’s off into familiar biopic fare such as Pharrell’s childhood, and influences, and the circumstances that pushed him towards a music career.
There’s also this other thing. From the very beginning of the film it’s immediately apparent we are in unfamiliar territory because foremost this film is animated, second it’s animated with Lego building blocks. Over the past ten years there has been great success with the Lego brand being used in filmmaking with animated projects like, The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie. In the realm of gaming Lego has collaborated with Marvel, DC Comics, and even the Star Wars brand to create games made with the Lego building block aesthetic. This is the first time Lego has been used to portray a feature length story based on real life.
The results for Piece By Piece are immediately striking. Every scene is rendered with so much color and detail, from the Atlantis Housing project buildings in Virginia Beach that Pharrell grew up in, to the model’s outfits in the “Frontin’” music video. The animation format offers a flexibility to the storytelling that would have been difficult to achieve with live action. One thing that stood out was Pharrell’s songs being portrayed as colorful, jewel encrusted statuettes. It’s a quirky element that wouldn’t make sense in a live action rendering, but here it’s humorous as Noreaga takes off to board a plane with a box that contains this seemingly magical, physical embodiment of the “Superthug” song. For those that know how significant this was in real life, it's a treat to see Noreaga finally open the container.
Pharrell has included a ton of his musician collaborators in the making of this film. Even with the characters sporting the standard blocky Lego figure frame, the animators went to great lengths to make sure the characters are recognizable by including distinct facial, hair, and clothing details. It’s a treat seeing how each of these people are rendered in comparison to their real life counterparts. Chad Hugo, Snoop Dogg, Noreaga, Missy Elliot, Gwen Stefani and others lend their voices and anecdotes to the film. Pharrell has mentioned not telling people like Jay-Z what the interviews were going to be used for because he wanted genuine responses for Morgan Neville and the animators to work with.
Speaking of the animators, they deserve the utmost praise for helping to bring this film to fruition. Because of the choice to go with animation and Lego, there was so much freedom in the way the story is presented. At times, it’s as if a painting has come to life. In one scene Pusha T makes a perilous run as he tries to make a studio session under a tight deadline before Pharrell gives away the “Grinding” beat to another artist. We know it didn’t happen like this but because of the choice to go with Lego animation it allows for a whimsical and comedic interpretation. The film is full of such moments including one of the funniest and memorable scenes featuring Snoop Dogg in a room full of Crips. The film doesn’t just cover Pharrell’s music life, there also quieter more personal moments which deal with failure, loss, and love, and his exploration of creative endeavors outside of music.
Overall Piece By Piece joins a strong list of 2024 animated features including The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2, and Transformers One. It’s one of the year’s best cinematic offerings and does a great job of celebrating Pharrell Williams’ contribution to the Hip Hop, R&B, Rock, and Pop music that has enriched our lives for over 30 years.
Director: Morgan Neville
Released: October 11th, 2024
Distributor: Focus Features, Tremolo Productions, The LEGO Group
WORDS BY: MONK
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