Pharrell Williams LEGO Doc by Morgan Neville

In Piece by Piece, Morgan Neville (Gained’t You Be My Neighbor?, 20 Toes from Stardom) tries to upend the conventions of the superstar documentary utilizing LEGOs. Sure, you learn that appropriately: LEGOs.

Premiering at Telluride earlier than its October 11 theatrical launch by Focus Options, Piece by Piece tells the life story of multihyphenate Pharrell Williams by way of elaborately designed set items composed of animations of the favored plastic constructing blocks. If there’s anybody for whom this wouldn’t be a very unusual and off-kilter thought, it’s Williams, whose profession has been outlined by a buoyant irreverence. Beginning together with his childhood in Virginia Seaside and delving into his wildly profitable music profession, Piece by Piece reveals, in candy and galvanizing phrases, how the producer turned rapper turned singer turned trend icon has by no means been one to be boxed in.

However whereas ingenious, Neville’s doc can’t fairly keep away from the trimmings of the celebrity-produced biopic, and is expectedly marked by typical hagiographic evasiveness.

To be truthful, Piece by Piece, with its PG ranking, appears geared towards a youthful viewers, and the box-office success of The Lego Film seemingly bodes nicely for its theatrical launch. Neville pads the doc with scenes that encourage self-acceptance and obscure platitudes about discovering the upper calling inside one’s desires. And whereas they are often stirring, they aren’t as persuasive because the moments when Williams lets his story communicate for itself.

The liveliest components of Piece by Piece are when the musician recounts rising up in Virginia Seaside. Utilizing LEGO animations permits a vivid portrait of life within the Atlantis Flats, a housing mission whose group impressed him. The way in which individuals performed music by way of their home windows, frolicked within the courtyard and regarded out for one another nurtured a younger Williams even when he felt misplaced. The development blocks are additionally a beautiful method of representing Williams’ synesthesia, a neurological situation that causes individuals to expertise multiple sense on the identical time. When listening to music, Williams noticed completely different colours, patterns and, in his phrases, “lovely cascades of sunshine.”

Williams knew that folks thought he was odd, particularly as soon as he began college. These early collegiate years have been alienating and difficult for the artist, who struggled to focus throughout classes. He was finally compelled to repeat a grade. Interviews with Williams’ mother and father complement Neville’s interview with the musician.

A younger Williams didn’t discover his place till he began taking music courses on the encouragement of his grandmother, who took him to church and purchased him his first drum equipment. He met his Neptunes accomplice, Chad Hugo, by way of these courses. Collectively, the pair would reduce college and jam, creating music that represented their eclectic style and experiences. Magic occurred when Williams made music, and an analogous sort of enchantment takes place when he talks about it.

One other energy of Piece by Piece is how the LEGO animation enhances our understanding of Williams’ course of. It may be difficult to signify creation in a documentary, however right here Neville, with the assistance of editors Jason Zeldes, Aaron Wickenden and Oscar Vazquez, affords dynamic sequences that supply glimpses of how Williams’ thoughts works. The way in which Williams talks about matching beats to particular artists or discovering simply the correct sound to spherical out a report affirms his genius. Beats change into objects with lives of their very own, meticulously catalogued and cared for by the artist. Inspiration for songs can come from wherever, together with the sound of a twig paint can. (It’s price noting that Williams has 5 authentic songs within the doc, which counterpoint Michael Andrews’ fanciful rating.)

From Snoop Canine’s “Drop it Like It’s Scorching” to Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U,” Williams and Hugo, collaborating because the Neptunes, produced most of the hottest chart-topping information of the late ’90s and early aughts. Interviews with Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Snoop Dogg and Jay Z add energetic anecdotes that assist assemble a portrait of Williams as a fledgling producer.

When Piece by Piece chronicles Williams’ later years, the doc begins to reflect a lot of what audiences have come to count on in superstar movie tasks. Utilizing LEGO animation can’t totally masks the relative thinness of these components of the narrative.

Nonetheless, there are some transferring moments, like when Williams speaks candidly about how early success ballooned his ego till he had alienated his closest pals, or how he discovered himself by way of producing for Kendrick Lamar and writing his Despicable Me 2 hit “Completely satisfied.” One wonders if a few of these extra irritating junctures in Williams’ life might need been higher served with dwell footage.

At a brisk 90 minutes, Piece by Piece doesn’t have a lot time to linger, and this evidently leaves some questions — about particulars of the estrangement and reconciliation between Hugo and Williams, or what occurred to Williams throughout his creatively fallow years. So whereas Piece by Piece will undoubtedly encourage audiences, it doesn’t all the time make us really feel nearer to its topic.