FILM
BEAT CRAZY
approach, and the result would have landed somewhere closer to the latter ‘Piece by Piece’ is a fun if shallow look than the former. at the life and music of Pharrell Williams And not without merit: Pharrell, whose artistic presBY MICHAEL J. CASEY ence has been felt in music for over 20 years now, can easily slip into an account t’s not always what the story is but of greatest hits as a parade of who’s who how you tell it. passes by. But with LEGOs in place of Piece by Piece, directed by docupeople, Piece by Piece doesn’t just mentarian Morgan Neville, is the story of become watchable; it becomes playful. musician Pharrell Williams. Most probably Take the concept of a musical beat. know Pharrell for his ubiquitous 2013 sinPharrell is almost savant-like when creatgle, “Happy.” The song was a massive radio and viral hit, so much so that it over- ing hooks, bouncing sounds off each other and creating catchy earworms. He shadowed the work Pharrell did with attributes much of that to an early Snoop Dogg (“Drop It Like It’s Hot”), No encounter with Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.” Doubt (“Hella Good”), Britney Spears While listening to the song over and over (“Boys”), even the endlessly intoxicating again, Pharrell experienced synesthesia “Get Lucky” with French robot duo Daft Punk and the incomparable Nile Rodgers. — the ability to see sound waves as visible colors. That’s quite a lineup of artists and Neville uses this conceit to color the styles, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg LEGO bricks Pharrell works with to create when it comes to Pharrell’s discography. So, how best to tell the story of an artist his beats. The individual pieces bounce and glow as Pharrell snaps them together, as prolific as Pharrell via image and handing over shimmering, vibrating cresound and the collision of style and culations to other musicians who fall under the beat’s hypnotic spell. And since LEGO pieces are interchangeable, Pharrell’s ability to mix and match styles and sounds is given a visual analog. That all works, but Piece by Piece is not without its faults. The doc falls short mainly due to the wealth of material Neville tries to cover. LEGO Pharrell Williams in Piece by Piece. Courtesy: Focus Features What starts as an exploration of how one hit opens the door for the next, the documentary quickly ture while providing the greatest amount becomes a clip show with Pharrell always of information in the shortest amount of finding himself at the right place at the time? The answer: LEGOs. right time. Success in any field takes a The LEGO device was Pharrell’s idea, whole lot of luck and hard work. Pharrell and it works. It works because Neville’s doesn’t shy away from the necessary doc is essentially a linear approach to the combination, even if Neville’s documentarecording artist’s life, with Pharrell’s narrary wants to. tion bolstered by a plethora of talking head interviews. We’ve seen this approach before — at least without LEGOs. At its best, it’s informative. At its ON SCREEN: Piece by worst, it’s hagiography. Piece is now playing in In another non-LEGO world, Piece by theaters. Piece would have taken that standard
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BOULDER WEEKLY
DENVER FILM FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT: NICKEL BOYS BY MICHAEL J. CASEY
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estined to be the most talked about movie at the 47th Denver Film Festival — if not the 2024 award season — Nickel Boys is a textbook example of how the telling of a story can sometimes be more significant than the story itself. The story, you probably already know. Directed by RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys is based on Colson Whitehead’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a brutal reform school, Nickel Academy, that operated for decades without intervention despite being a cesspool of corruption and racial abuse with a secret grave- Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson in Nickel Boys. Courtesy: Amazon MGM Studios yard out back. The acts heaped upon the characBut Ross and cinematographer ters are simultaneously horrifying and Jomo Fray are so good at the techinfuriatingly routine. nique that the artifice quickly falls At this point in our history, even the away into an immersive experience most ardent deniers have a difficult that feels truly empathetic. “You never time mounting a defense that really understand a person until you American history isn’t shaped by sysconsider things from his point of view,” temic segregation, genocide and slavAtticus Finch told his daughter in ery in its many insidious incarnations. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In another filmmaker’s hands, “Until you climb into his skin and walk Nickel Boys might have been the rote around in it.” recounting of a terrible piece of history And in Nickel Boys, the color of that that is not too different from now. But skin is the whole story. in Ross’ hands, Nickel Boys places the audience directly inside the perspective of the movie’s two Black leads: Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and ON SCREEN: Nickel Turner (Brandon Wilson). Boys screens at 3:15 Elwood gets the lion’s share of the p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at narrative, which means we see what AMC 9+CO 10 with direche sees. For gamers, the herky-jerky tor RaMell Ross in attenimage and characters addressing the dance. Ross will receive camera will have a familiar feel. For the 2024 Excellence in those used to cinema’s typical omnipDirecting Award and parotent presence, the first-person device ticipate in a post-screenof Nickel Boys might feel limiting, even ing conversation. distracting.
OCTOBER 17, 2024
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