Piece by Piece
It’s hard not to see the appeal of a hybrid musical-docu-biopic Lego movie like “Piece by Piece.” One would guess that the overwhelming happiness associated with the song released by William Pharrell, “Happy,” would be perfect in animation. I mean, Williams’ music which is playful and genre defying sounds like a post-soul cool with a skater’s edge, is probably more than a mere live-action story could contain. But, under director Morgan Neville, this narration is also devoid of any tang and creativity about this life.
Adopting an approach reminiscent of the documentary genre that is a staple in Neville’s work, the latter is also incorporated in Piece by Piece. One example would be the first, which imitates the aesthetic of making of videos: a Lego Pharrell (voicing himself) is seen emerging into his house through the camera’s point of view. Pharrell asks his spouse Helen to ensure the children do not get hopelessly disrupted, since the time has come for him to be interviewed. Pharrell takes a camera to a different room where two chairs are visible: one for him and one for a Lego figurine of Neville. The director then encourages the star to envision his heritage and citizenship, leading him to compare himself to a young marine creature heading towards the Roman god of the sea, Neptune. Dream’s origin sends us to Virginia Beach, which is the place where Pharrell Williams was born and raised in Atlantis projects with his mother and father.
After this point, the movie leaves off the routine rise and fall then rise again curve which has become a tendency among music biopics. In his youth, while attending grammar school, Pharrell meets Pusha T, Missy Elliot, Timbaland, and of course Chad Hugo and Shay Haley with whom he would go on to become part of ‘The Neptunes’. Williams and Hugo would first encourage aspiring band member Teddy Riley, then become motivated themselves to pursue their creative limits.
This leads them to have collaborations with Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake and so on. The number of hits, however, gives the motion picture its jukebox aspect. But visually, Neville, decides to construct the music videos for the songs ‘Hollaback Girl’ and ‘Drop it Like its Hot’ using legos, which is somewhat dull. The later success of Pharrells is then the main problem of the story, because he overextends himself as a popular song writer and the chief of fashion and product line.
None of this is too exciting. This is the case even in the industry that produces Biopics with the subject actively participating, seeing things from that point of view. “Piece by Piece”, despite the movie’s affection for so many painted-out profanities, is far overly sanitized in the first place. When it comes to Pharrell’s character weaknesses in this movie I can summarize them as: “People are too trusting” and “Biiitch, they can’t commit.” The former gets him into conflicts with A&R men who try to flatten his artistic vision. The latter happens due to his music where he hops from style to style, his relationships with his girlfriend and future wife in his real life. These are not dull challenges by any means. Yet, these cannot be the properties that define the breadth of ones’ complexity. Instead, Neville highlights in particular the belief of Pharrell in God, his sympathy for friends like Pusha T who was in a bad situation and needed a hit, and his never-ending source of inspiration as the key points in the discussion.
Those aspirations allow many other narrative questions to remain open. Neville and Pharrell make it a point that the Neptunes were signed to Teddy Riley’s music label but never however are we told how did the group get out of that contract once they got signed. There are romantic elements in Pharrell’s mother and father, but they have been given insufficient screen time to add any other impressions.
In Pharrell’s words, creating a song is akin to piecing together Lego blocks long enough till one gets that “aha” moment and it all comes together . There is very little else about his process that is shared.
In any case, the documentary hardly finds interesting tropes to discuss Pharrell’s psyche. A few sequences where the artist’s sombre synesthesia is depicted on screen stand out as loud shots of neural canvas’s filled with tumbling color. And there are some other comical instances too, such as a statue of Neptune coming to life or Pharrell day dreaming about being stranded at sea due to some heartless A&R guys. But this film is never that mischievous which its teasing tone seeks to accentuate.
Rather, the overly simplistic “Piece by Piece” always seems to hold its breath in anticipation of achieving the milestones of its genre. The soundscapes of the musical numbers are far from groundbreaking. The building block plastic animation appears to be low brow, the dramatization is unnaturally hogged and the comedy bits are sparse. Also: Who is this film intended to appeal to? The usage of obscene vulgarities suggests it is not targeted for the children. And being animated, it feels like for adults as well it will depend on a slim window of humor and yet a very thin line of being clean
There are just too many gaps in “Piece by Piece” that make it less impactful than the person it is about.
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