Pharrell Williams. You undoubtedly know the hit-making producer’s name, and certainly know his earworm-worthy beats for many of your favorite artists. But you probably weren’t thinking that Pharrell needed a biopic of his personal rags-to-riches story, and certainly not at this time of year when music biopics are available by the gross. You’d be wrong, though, because Piece by Piece, a film energized by the power of Lego and Pharrell’s vibrant imagination, will have you wanting to turn every musician’s story into a literal toy story.
Endlessly delightful, colorful, and wildly inventive, Piece by Piece makes sense coming from someone like Pharrell. It’s hard to put into words the impact he’s had in revolutionizing hip-hop. For me, who grew up with legendary producers like DJ Premier, Marly Marl, and Prince Paul, Pharrell was this oddball who did more than any of them to take rap into the mainstream. And he did it by combining elements of hip-hop, soul, jazz, and rock music, but mainly by being unafraid to break the established boundaries. But more than that, Pharrell was just himself, a misfit kid from Virginia Beach who saw the world differently than others. He always imagined the world as “where you can put things together however you want”, and that was what he did with his music; warm, thumping, off-kilter beats that dig deep into your soul.
If you’re going to make a movie about a music producer, Pharrell is the perfect choice for a lot of reasons. He’s kind of like a superhero in some ways, and in fact the screening I attended was full of gleeful kids. In the opening minutes, Pharrell talks about the neurological condition, synesthesia (the recent film Música deals with it), that he suffers from. It’s not a debilitating affliction by any means. It causes someone to have involuntary experiences when certain senses are stimulated. So a person who smells food they love might see shapes or stars in the sky. For Pharrell, music causes him to see vibrant colors everywhere. Piece by Piece is the visual representation of what Pharrell sees every day. Through his eyes, the Virginia Beach housing project he grew up was a raucous array of rainbow colors, bouncing buildings and sunny skies, never-ending parades and break battles by the water. If only we all could see the world in such a way.
Directed by Morgan Neville, who has brought creative style to hit documentaries such as 20 Feet from Stardom, Road Runner, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, the film uses Lego to enhance Pharrell’s vision but also to pump up familiar biopic tropes. That said, there’s nothing familiar about the wealth of talent populating the cafeteria at Pharrell’s high school. Timbaland, Pusha T, Missy Elliot, they all hung out in the same circles, rapping and making music in hopes of getting their shot at fame, a chance to see the world.
The anecdotes are lively and packed with Pharrell’s celebrity friends. We see him connect with N.E.R.D. and Neptunes pal Chad Hugo (another musical savant, just like Pharrell), their friend Shay Haley (this film serves as a validation for Haley, whose role in the group is often criticized), and get their big break from “Rump Shaker” producer and inventor of the New Jack Swing, Teddy Riley. It’s a trip to see that classic Wreckx-n-Effect video with all the half-naked women rendered as Lego floozies. The power of Pharrell’s beats literally glows in powerful, pulsing orbs, such as the one handed to legendary rapper N.O.R.E., who is told not to listen to it until he hits Miami. When he does, the pulsating artifact blows his mind with that epic “Superthug” beat. It’s fascinating, and much more exciting, to have Pharrell depict the creation of his beats visually as if he’s creating magic spells out of Middle-Earth, rather than having him tell us as a talking head in a plain biographical drama.
Piece by Piece doesn’t tell us anything particularly new about Pharrell, and it skirts the legal issues between him and Chad Hugo, who are no longer on speaking terms. That’s fair; this movie focuses on the joys of their friendship, the pleasures of their partnership, and what they meant to Pharrell. Furthermore, it acts as a reminder of the insane number of hits he’s produced along the way, recalled by Lego versions of Jay-Z (who tells us there isn’t an ounce of “street” in Pharrell, which is why people love him), Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, Justin Timberlake, Snoop Dogg (who becomes an actual dog) and more. These stories are refreshingly light and surprisingly human, like when Stefani begins her interview by rushing out to quiet the lawn mowers outside her window, only to run back excited to talk about her time making music with the Neptunes. Or when Snoop, eager to shake the thuggish persona established by Death Row, tells Pharrell that their “Drop It Like It’s Hot” collab revealed to people his fun side. I think we can all admit that Snoop has been a wildly different kind of personality ever since.
If there’s a wrong turn in Piece by Piece, it’s by skipping through Pharrell’s darkest periods. The death of his grandmother had a lasting impact, as she was one of the first to inspire him to pursue greatness. When Pharrell loses his way and starts manufacturing generic, mainstream music for the radio, it’s presented via three shadowy Agent Smith-esque corporate stooges. It dismisses any personal blame on the temporary downfall and places it on cartoon villains. The film can’t move fast enough to Pharrell’s revival through the Daft Punk smash “Get Lucky” and that damned Despicable Me track “Happy” that I’m sorry to say will be stuck in your head again after this. Not that Piece by Piece is particularly deep but brushing aside his failures discredits the tremendous success he’s had, as well as the remarkable comeback that coincided with a fresh, uplifting outlook on the world. Having been encouraged by his grandmother to do something that will impact people’s lives everywhere, Pharrell’s collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on the Black Lives Matter anthem “Alright” gives the film some emotional depth, but only a little.
Some people don’t pay attention to who the producer of their favorite song is, and that makes sense. If you don’t know Pharrell Williams beyond the surface level, Piece by Piece will stun you with the number of familiar, chart-topping songs he was responsible for. Put together, this would be among the greatest soundtracks ever. Piece by Piece is Pharrell giving us endless reasons to smile, tap our feet to the music, and look at life like it was a Lego set to be taken apart and rebuilt, brick-by-brick.
Focus Features releases Piece by Piece in theaters on October 11th.
Trav’s note: Pharrell has teamed with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry on another musical film about his life growing up in VA Beach. It will star Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Oscar winner Da’vine Joy Randolph.
