Pharrell was….always a bit of a ghost in regards to my experience in music. The older I got and the more I learned about the stuff he produced and sung, the more curious I was about him. So “Piece By Piece” looked like a decent companions piece (no pun intended) to get some insight about him.
Even as somewhat of an outsider to LEGO, can’t say I regretted this.
I am glad they didn’t go the traditional live-action route as I feel using Legos was probably the best way to capture his creativity and doses of positivity in a manner a live-action narrative just couldn’t contain. Thematically and visually, the gimmick maintains that same wistful playfulness that bolstered The Lego Movie a decade ago, making use of its features of fantasy and fantastical realism to maintain watchability. Even when it does trivialize the events the story portrays, the style is still taken advantage of to its natural conclusion and it isn’t grandeur for granduer’s sake.
Cinematography never crosses the threshold into being tame but I’d say the editing was even more dynamic. Silky smooth pacing leads to no immediate deficiencies, many of its needle drops are catchy while thankfully paired with a decent score, and I liked how they flirted around the PG rating while keeping it still strictly kids friendly.
You can tell Morgan Neville had the best of intentions in mind but even with outside working away from his comfort zone and adhering to traditional formats, his directing just feels confounding. Thoughtful and thorny in specific areas, he still feels boxed in a gilded cage. He can only do so much to glitz up what we’re used to seeing.
We know how tired the glossy biographical picture has become these past few decades and how the crushing inevitability of most of them looking and feeling the same drains the life and intrigue out of people. And as much as I would LOVE to go against the grain…..I can’t. Because it’s more of the same sanitized ho-hum and for someone who’s had as much reach and influence as Pharrell has, it feels too surface level to capture the same zaniness and creative liberty that the animation does. To put it simply, you’re watching a Wikipedia-ed version of his life story, career, downfall and redemption and it doesn’t feel nearly as sincere about its intentions or craft.
Narratively and stylistically, both are puzzle pieces that look alike enough to snap into place but it’s a mirage meant to confuse you into thinking that. The former doesn’t do as much to carry the load as the latter despite glimpses of playful wit, ingenuity and sly charm supporting it; said emotional thorough-line that results from that feels frivolously manipulative, actively ducking the “New Black” and “Blurred Lines” controversy, the recent Neptune’s name legal dispute and the confounding manners Pharrell is depicted as above human. This air of performative groveling and exceptionalism paints a portrait of someone who thought himself a god before being dragged back down to Earth without actually building this documentary around that fleeting humanity and with the runtime being a piddly hour and a half long, those opportunities were unfortunately too sparse to take advantage of.
And yet, despite all that, it’s kinda hard to hate this. For all its hot-dogging, it’s so disarmingly honest about the universal experience in finding the importance of humility in the face of success, it kind of makes you forget those other factors I mentioned. It’s the one factor that stands out amongst the emotional jargon that comes off as something semi-genuine.
A film that’s serious about play and humble about the need for joy, it can’t escape the tidal wave of uniformity to other biographies or the controlled image the film so obviously wants to reflect but going all out to make sure people can enjoy the format anyway is a decent compromise. This films greatest achievement, though, is inspiring me to get back to writing songs on my own.
