Pharrell Williams recounts his (full) life in a colorful Lego biopic

CINEMA – Pharrell Williams never wants to be like everyone else. Biopics of singers have multiplied in 2024, from Bob Marley : One Love has Mr Aznavour passing through Back to Black, but there is no question of him offering a simple equivalent. With the help of director Morgan Neville, the producer imagined the film Piece by Piece in theaters this Wednesday, November 20, a confusing mix between documentary, animated film and musical, all in Lego.

The narration does not break any bricks in substance, but the form stands out. Pharrell Williams recounts his artistic journey in a mass of colors specific to Lego and which makes the film, presented at various festivals since September (Telluride, Toronto, BFI London), very fun.

Far from being a whim, the producer's idea (which he himself imposed on the documentary maker Morgan Neville) above all makes it possible to best symbolize synesthesia. This neurological phenomenon which associates several senses – sounds with colors in the case of Pharrell Williams – partly explains the musician's virtuosity. But these colored bricks are only a support to retrace your path to success.

In Piece By Piecewe learn that the Virginia Beach native discovered this particularity as a child by being obsessed with Stevie Wonders records, before realizing the importance of music in the gospel masses to which his grandmother took him.

The first “star producers”

Pharrell Williams then enrolled in his high school marching band, where he discovered Chad Hugo, with whom he founded the group The Neptunes. The two artists are not the only aspiring stars from this little corner of Virginia, where Shay Haley (with whom he founded NERD), Missy Elliot, Pusha T and Timbaland also reside, all of whom speak in voice-over during the film.

But the Neptunes will be the first to get noticed thanks to a talent competition organized by singer and producer Teddy Riley. The duo then began to shake up the world of hip-hop and RnB with the album Superthug by rapper NORE

Piece by Piece then sets out to show how, brick by brick, Pharrell Williams built his incredible success story in the 2000s. In parallel with the Neptunes, he began to produce solo for Jay-Z or Justin Timberlake and took his first steps in pop with singer Gwen Stefani. He then collaborated with a plethora of artists ranging from Snoop Dogg to Madonna via Shakira, Kanye West and Busta Rhymes.

In this excitement, the film shows the diversification of the producer who also turns to fashion by co-founding the clothing brand Billionaire Boys Clubs or collaborating with Louis Vuitton (of which he becomes the creative director in 2023). The feature film also explains how Pharrell Williams stacked projects like Lego, to the point of overwork.

Doubts…but lots of hits

Because at the start of the 2010s, Pharrell Williams is nothing more than a shadow of the artist who released the front with Jay-Z or who produced Drop It’s Like It’s Hot by Snoop Dogg, both also present in voice-over. In the film, the bricks no longer fit together and the colors fade, as if to represent the state in which the artist finds himself.

A state from which he emerged in 2013 after his marriage to Helen Lasichanh and the resumption of his collaboration with his colleague from the Neptunes. As the film illustrates in a scene during which we hear in particular Blurred Line by Robin Thicke (and TI) Pharrell Williams returned to the spotlight this year. In addition to this tube, it also stands out thanks to Get Lucky with Daft Punk and the song Happy, soundtrack of Despicable Me 2 which becomes an unexpected international phenomenon.

Universal Pictures

Daft Punk invited Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers on the international hit “Get Lucky”.

The documentary finally looks at the social dimension of the artist. To show Pharrell Williams' commitment, the Lego bricks take the shape of the festival stands, for example. Something in the Water – the expression “there is something in this water” designating the many talents who have emerged at Virginie Beach – which he has organized in his hometown every year since 2019. Piece by Piece don't forget to mention either that it was he who produced Alright by Kendrick Lamar, which has become the anthem of the protests of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In Piece by Piecethe producer thus confides having tried to “deconstruct brick by brick” its rich history “so that it all makes sense”. Ultimately, the Lego Movie above all presents a (very) successful life.

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