A hybrid musical-docu-biopic Lego movie like “Piece by Piece” is a rich concept. The bright jubilation of “Happy,” the chart-topping hit for producer/musician Pharrell Williams, would presumably make his life story and the form of animation a perfect fit. Williams’ playful, genre-bending music that mixes post-soul cool with skater sensibilities is probably more than a live-action narrative could contain. In the hands of director Morgan Neville, however, the story of Williams’ life lacks specificity and substance.

Neville leans on the kind of visual storytelling common to documentary film, his bread and butter, throughout “Piece by Piece.” The opening, for instance, borrows the aesthetic language of behind-the-scenes documentaries by having a camera following behind a Lego Pharrell (voicing himself) as he walks into his home. The singer asks his wife Helen to quiet the kids because he’s about to be interviewed. Pharrell and the camera go to a separate room, where two chairs are set up: one for him and another for a Lego version of Neville. The filmmaker then prompts the star to tell his life story—inspiring Pharrell to imagine himself as a baby sea creature swimming through the ocean toward the Roman god of the sea Neptune. That dreamed origin story pushes us to the shores of Virginia Beach, Pharrell’s hometown, where he lives in the Atlantis projects with his mother and father. 

From then on, the film takes a rise-and-fall-and-rise format. At his grammar school, Pharrell connects with Pusha T, Missy Elliot, Timbaland, and his eventual Neptunes collaborators Chad Hugo and Shay Haley. The band impresses superstar music producer Teddy Riley, inspiring Williams and Hugo to maximize their creative potential. It leads to collaborations with Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake and more. The plethora of hits, of course, lends the film its jukebox appeal. But visually, Neville, uninspiringly just recreates the music videos for “Hollaback Girl” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot” as Legos. The success Pharrell experiences becomes the primary conflict as he stretches himself too thin as a hitmaker and as the head of fashion and product lines.

It’s all pretty ho-hum. Biopics, especially with the subject’s involvement, are always sanitized. Despite the film’s love of oft-bleeped expletives, “Piece by Piece” is far too clean. Pharrell’s two main character flaws in this film add up to: I’m too trusting and yet I’m afraid of commitment. The former gets him in trouble with A&R men sanding down his musical complexity. The latter occurs in his music, jumping from genre to genre, and in his personal life, with his girlfriend and eventual wife. These aren’t uninteresting obstacles. But they can’t be the sum-total of a person’s complexity. Rather Neville emphasizes Pharrell’s faith in God, his devotion to his friends—such as helping a down-on-his-luck Pusha T score a hit—and his seemingly boundless creativity as the main talking points. 

Those aims leave many other narrative questions unanswered. Neville and Pharrell make it a point that the Neptunes were locked in a music deal with Teddy Riley, but it’s never explained how the group were able to break out of that deal once they found representation. Pharrell’s parents appear as comic relief, but not much else is revealed about them. Pharrell’s songwriting process is also likened to his putting together Lego pieces until they shine a la the lightbulb above a great idea. Nothing else, however, is said of his actual methodology or ethos. 

Most of all, the film rarely finds inventive ways to talk about Pharrell’s inner life. Sequences where the artist’s synesthesia are represented onscreen are the exception, roaring as vibrant, blooming hues of hypnotic color. There are other whimsical moments, such as a statue of Neptune coming alive or Pharrell imagining himself being left out at sea by nefarious A&R men, but this film is never as playful as it’d like you to believe. 

Rather the overstretched and underthought “Piece by Piece” is always struggling to check the boxes of its genre requirements: the musical sequences lack originality, the Lego animation doesn’t go beyond the expected sheen, the biopic elements are too controled and the humor is intermittent. It’s also unclear who exactly this movie is for? With its heavy expletives it’s certainly not for kids. And with it being animated, you wonder how many adults will gravitate toward a movie trying to straddle the line between winking and clean. There are simply too many chunks missing from “Piece by Piece” for it to be as memorable as its subject.   

This review was filed from the premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. The film opens on October 11, 2024.

4/5 stars

After a career stretching back 50 years, Pedro Almodóvar finally makes his feature debut in English with The Room Next Door.

Spain’s premier director has clearly been building up to this feat; last year, he delivered his second short film in English, the gay-themed Western Strange Way of Life. This take on Sigrid Nunez’s book What Are You Going Through, premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival, goes a step further.

Almodóvar devotees can rest assured that his unique approach to filmmaking has not been diluted by switching from Spanish.

This New York story sees Julianne Moore play Ingrid, an author who has just published a successful book wrestling with death, something she greatly fears.

When she runs into an old acquaintance at a book signing, she is informed that their mutual friend Martha (Tilda Swinton) is ill with cervical cancer. Ingrid has not seen Martha for years, but takes the opportunity to visit her in hospital, and restores the bond between them as she becomes a regular visitor.

The Thicket, 2024.

Directed by Elliott Lester.
Starring Peter Dinklage, Juliette Lewis, Levon Hawke, Leslie Grace, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Esme Creed-Miles, Andrew Schulz, Macon Blair, Arliss Howard, James Hetfield, Ryan Robbins, Ned Dennehy, David Midthunder, Sophia Fabris, Guy Sprung, Derek Gilroy, Chris Enright, and Teach Grant.

SYNOPSIS:

West Texas. A boy who, after his sister is kidnapped by a violent killer known only as Cut Throat Bill, enlists a fierce bounty hunter named Reginald Jones who becomes the leader of the group of outcasts searching for the stolen girl.

Directly across from one another, Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis) tells Peter Dinklage’s Reginald Jones he is the shortest man she has ever seen, to which he responds that she is the ugliest man he has ever seen. There are unmistakable parallels between these two hardened killers, one a gravedigger and gunslinger for higher, the other a career criminal with a hefty bounty on her. Even before Director Elliott Lester’s The Thicket starts getting into the similar expository traumatic backstory for each of them, anyone with working eyes can tell that these two people have gotten a raw deal from society (especially in the Wild West) based on their appearances alone. He is a dwarf; she is butch, scarred, gruff, and about as unladylike as a woman can get.

Above all else, everyone here is searching for a home or place of belonging, whether they realize it or not. Throughout the film, a found family is developed and juxtaposed alongside the hierarchy of a band of criminals. That’s not to say Reginald Jones starts as noble or with a heart of gold. It’s far from the contrary, as he, alongside his muscular friend (which is not to say that he can’t hold his own with a gun or in a knife fight) Eustace (Gbenga Akinnagbe) are bounty hunters and will essentially take any dirty job for money.

Their services are hired by sensitive and harmless religiously Christian Jack (Levon Hawke), who wants his sister Lula (Esme Creed-Miles) rescued from the clutches of Cut Throat Bill and her violent posse of miscreants. Following the tragic loss of their parents to smallpox, the siblings were attacked en route to a new family home, which Jack eventually uses the deed for to sweeten the deal. It is also unclear what Cut Throat Bill wants Lula for, but allowing the young woman to be assaulted and raped by her men is not an option. In that regard, there is some temporary relief for Lula’s safety, at least until we learn that she is being taken somewhere dubbed The Big Thicket.

There is enough drama to mine characterization from, but Chris Kelley’s screenplay (based on the book by Joe R. Lansdale) doesn’t know when to stop adding characters in its effort to drive home that found family aspect. The result is a lot of characters that are hard to care about, even if one of them happens to be an unofficially deputized bounty hunter chasing after Reginald Jones, played by none other than Metallica lead singer James Hetfield. Then, there is a forced prostitute (Leslie Grace) Jack decides he needs to save, meaning that there is a romantic subplot mixed into this narrative about rescuing his sister that one would think would play out more urgently.

Everything else tossed into this story comes as an unfortunate detour from Peter Dinklage and Juliette Lewis turning in solid, pained, and empathetic misfit turns as characters from similar backgrounds, ending up on different areas of the morality spectrum. It’s another fascinating role for Peter Dinklage, who admirably refuses to let his career be placed into a conventional box. He isn’t merely a helpless dwarf incapable of fighting against his tormentors; he is skilled with weapons and fends them off. There is also a tough exterior to the character and a willingness to mold Jack into a more traditional man, which is somewhat necessary to rescue Lula successfully.

The primary issue is that the storytelling isn’t particularly riveting, and the characters aren’t explored deeply enough. Unsurprisingly, all of this will culminate in violence at The Big Thicket, which disappointingly doesn’t come across as a unique, terrifying location or one that is taken advantage of for innovative action and set pieces. Admittedly, those environments are beautifully harsh, and the period piece details are convincing.

Overstuffed plot lines and characters just let down the core dynamic, presumably having had more time to breathe and come alive in book form. As an adaptation, The Thicket probably could have used more condensing and a tighter focus on fresh elements. 

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

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