by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Pharrell Williams, Morgan Neville, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Daft Punk
Intro:
… pure sensory pop art …
Morgan Neville, one of the most heartfelt and earnest documentarians working today, has switched things up in a major way with his latest feature. Taking elements of artist documentaries (candid interview footage, chuckle-worthy anecdotes, an idealised perspective on what it means to create art) and mainstream biopics (aspirational tone, feel-good atmosphere, a light touch even when dealing with dark subject matter) and mixing them together to make something that is altogether unique. It’s also animated with LEGO, because why not?
Taken as a documentary, it doesn’t dive too deep into the creative process of the artist in question, superstar pop producer Pharrell Williams, nor does it offer much in the way of an objective timeline.
And as a biopic, the story of Pharrell’s come-up from Virginia Beach to becoming the sound of 2000s pop music is standard rags-to-riches material that carefully sticks to what’s palatable. Nothing about the layer cake debacle surrounding ‘Blurred Lines’, or the behind-the-scenes drama with Kelis, or any major dirt on the relationship between him and Neptunes cohort Chad Hugo (which, much like the limp ego checking in the third act, sits rather uneasy in light of their split earlier this year).
But again, this isn’t really a doco or a biopic. This isn’t here to examine each individual piece of the set; it’s more focused on the satisfaction when they all snap into place. It’s all about the vibes, basically, which would be an issue if they weren’t consistently fun throughout. Even without the production breakdown, the LEGO animation visualises the kind of eclectic, DIY approach to creation that not only effectively highlights the artistic ethos of Hip Hop, but also the ‘throw away the instructions’ mindset behind that classic Neptunes sound. This is what allowed them to give pop credibility to the most abrasive of the Wu-Tang Clan (R.I.Power ODB).
It also works like a technicolour dream with soundtrack accompaniment, comprised of a few new songs but mainly The Neptunes’ and Pharrell’s greatest hits. Piece by Piece breathes new life into every beat and makes those outer-space loops shine like stars again. And that’s just in isolation; when used as dramatic texture against the highs and lows of Pharrell’s story, it makes the asynchronous timeline a total non-issue. By the time ‘Happy’ and ‘Get Lucky’ kick in, those aren’t even bricks anymore; that’s pressed serotonin on screen.
Piece By Piece, much like its subject, keeps heads nodding and feet tapping by going against the grain and doing its own thing. The unsaid can get distracting, and its full-force hopepunk a la Won’t You Be My Neighbor? might rub more jaded viewers the wrong way, but as pure sensory pop art, can’t nothing bring it down ‘cause its level’s too high. It brings us into the world of the nerd from N*E*R*D and shows what can happen when we just click together.
