London Film Festival 2024 – Piece By Piece ★★★★

Released: 8 November 2024

Director: Morgan Neville

Starring: Pharrell Williams

What if you could create something new with something that already exists? It is a strange conundrum, especially when it comes to filmmaking. With an industry striving for originality, how can you elevate a film – let alone a documentary about your life and career – into something different? Pharrell Williams and documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville had a bright idea: to make it out of LEGO.

From the moment Piece by Piece begins, it is clear that this is a LEGO movie through and through. The commitment to document this film in the prolific toy is a stroke of creative genius as it implies that anything – even the making of a documentary of a real-life person – is possible. After The Lego Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie and related LEGO shows demonstrated the success of narrative storytelling using the toy, there is ambition in a LEGO-animated documentary.

We start off in Virginia Beach, where Williams is surrounded by musical talent such as Timbaland and Missy Elliot but is struggling to find his own creative outlet. But as soon as he puts on Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, the film and Williams come alive. Although music is already established as a key factor in his childhood, this (literal) needle-drop kickstarts his interest in music.

From an early age. Williams displays potential as an artist, playing drums, mixing beats, rapping and singing while struggling to hold down a proper job at McDonalds. Although the film showcases his talents and an enthusiasm to progress in the music industry, there is also an air of self-righteousness, where he can show he can do anything but is overly confident during the early stages of his career. When the film sees him struggle to establish himself as a producer, there is a notable lack of self-contemplation. This feels like a creative decision to accommodate the vast number of interviewees – most of whom are prolific music artists and producers – yet it leaves little time for self-reflection, enabling Williams’ success to carry the fast-moving wave and Neville to pick up the pace with another ambitious animated sequence.

The ability to recreate key moments in Williams’ life and filmed interviews in Lego introduces a rare fun factor in a documentary. Though not a This is Spinal Tap-esque mockumentary, jokey conversations about bakeries and the intimidating heights of renowned artists become hilarious set pieces that bring another form of creativity that elevates the presentation. However, having the film and its ‘characters’ in a synthetic form prevents audiences from seeing the ‘real’ artist. Interviewees such as Pusha T and Williams may pour their heart out on screen yet we don’t see the tears and hurt from painful memories. Instead, we see a semblance of a fake smile and wide yet emotionless eyes that doesn’t fully convey the genuine emotional voices. As a result, the documentary reinforces a visual barrier that stops audiences from getting too close and omits controversial legal issues involving NER*D member Chad Hugo and Robin Thicke (over Blurred Lines) to retain the fantasy of Williams’ career.

Although not everything is awesome in Williams’ life, Neville shapes Piece by Piece as a dream-like feature in a bright, colourful and joyous world. The sheer depth of animation delivers bursts of imagination with creativity popping out from the screen, which feel like something we have never seen before. All the while, the relaxed demeanour and humour from the interviewees provide laugh-out-moments of hilarity, adding sprinkles to an already elaborate cake. But the real cherry on top is its commitment to representation – for audiences who have been playing with it for years, seeing African-Americans in various skin tones of Lego is a sight to behold. The recreations of various distinctive music artists (Daft Punk being an obvious example), as well as Williams’ friends and family, highlights the production team’s need for accuracy – and their efforts exceed expectations.

Piece by Piece puts its own spin on the conventional documentary – but it ideally matches the creativity of Williams himself. Although it is occasionally hard to feel its beat, the heart can be found through its ambition and gorgeous animation.