Review | ‘Piece by Piece’ – The documentary for everyone

Photo Collage by Emma Johnson, Staff Photographer

If you could make a movie about yourself, how would you build it? Pharrell Williams chose Legos, because like he said in the first five minutes of the movie — “What if life is like a Lego set and you can put them together any way you want but you’re borrowing from colors that already existed?” 

When news started circulating that a documentary was being made about Williams, I was intrigued. The multi-talented Grammy-winning artist surely deserves his story to be told. However, my skepticism skyrocketed when I heard that the documentary was going to be a Lego movie. 

The beloved children’s toy many of us grew up playing with was being used to tell the story of Williams, a producer, singer and rapper. It just didn’t add up. I found myself wondering, “Who is this for?,” as did much of the internet when the announcement was made. But it quickly became clear  it was made for absolutely everyone under the sun.

“Piece by Piece,” a documentary musical, follows Williams’ journey with music from his youth to the current day. It doesn’t have a plot or a motive, rather just painting the picture of his rise to fame. 

To put it simply, Williams thinks colorfully. The way he describes his thoughts and feelings is so imaginative that there is no better way to tell his story than through Legos. His connection to the music he creates is so powerful that no other form of film could give his story justice, and the “Why Lego?” question was cleared up pretty quickly.

Much like this film, his music is for everyone. He’s collaborated with artists that are featured in the film in a wide range of genres and uses different sounds to create something unique of his own, and his amicable nature came through in the film’s interviews.

“Piece by Piece” featured Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dog, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z and more. Despite their varying genres and styles, every interview subject in the documentary had the same thing to say: Williams was wildly imaginative and creative. These interviews supplemented the already immense character Williams was describing himself as, and it was a beautiful thing to watch others speak to his character. 

As an avid documentary viewer and filmmaker, I can say that there are many constraints within the craft. How do you translate an interviewee's thoughts into visuals? The task of showing and not telling became the very thing that made “Piece by Piece” work so well. There was nothing too far out that Williams could say in his interview that couldn’t be communicated through Legos.

There's a threshold between understanding what a documentary subject is describing and feeling, and this film portrayed the latter. Not only did you feel the music and emotion Williams was illustrating, but you were in his mind as he explained it. The Legos literally made you become Pharrell for just a moment. 

His flashbacks and imaginations were all things that became actual, somehow making an animated movie feel more real than a live-action one. Any and everything Williams mentioned had a perfectly articulate Lego animation paired with it, communicating feelings that words simply could not get across.

I have never had an ounce of musical talent — but when I was watching this movie, I understood what Williams meant. I understood the passion and dedication it takes to convince people you’re worthy and the hardships of staying true to yourself, because this movie was never just about music: it was about life.