There’s something about “Piece by Piece” that is a bit off.
It’s not the fact that the new movie on the life and career of megaproducer Pharrell Williams is done entirely in Lego animation (that’s actually an intriguing concept in theory) or that Lego Pharrell often goes on lengthy, Deepak Chopra-esque tangents.
It’s that “Piece by Piece” feels disingenuous and — at risk of reigniting a decade-old backlash against Williams calling himself “New Black” and saying he “doesn’t blame other races for our issues” during a 2014 Oprah Winfrey interview — has an air of exceptionalism and performativity. With confounding direction from the usually terrific Morgan Neville (“20 Feet from Stardom,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”), the film goes out of its way to portray Williams as above human.
In some sense, “Piece by Piece” fails in a way recent celebrity documentaries have. It presents a hagiographical portrait of a largely beloved figure and doesn’t question any of it, letting the subject run with his own story to the film’s detriment — regardless of how much of it is actually true.
While “Piece by Piece” has been marketed as “an animated biopic” that defies genre and format, it has much clearer documentary elements. The film features interviews with Williams’ parents, wife Helen Lasichanh, collaborators and friends, including Missy Elliott, Gwen Stefani, Chad Hugo, Pusha T and Snoop Dogg, who all enlighten the audience with anecdotes about, essentially, Williams’ talent and greatness.
That’s appealing enough for audiences interested in learning more about his music inspirations, as well as his ascent from a humble Virginia childhood all the way to the Billboard charts. The film peppers that timeline with numerous needle drops from the hitmaker’s discography, including No Doubt’s “Hella Good,” Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U” and Snoop’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” that will likely have fans…
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