The 51st Telluride Film Festival officially kicked off on Friday afternoon with the world premiere of Piece by Piece, an animated documentary about the innovative singer, songwriter and record producer Pharrell Williams, as the Patron Preview screening at the Werner Herzog Theatre. And the consensus of those in attendance was that the film is a truly original, outside-the-box, rollicking good time.
Directed by the great Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom), the taut 93-minute film — at the request of Williams, who experiences sounds visually, something known as synesthesia — employs LEGO animations to illustrate Williams’ journey from the projects of Virginia Beach to the heights of showbiz, and the bumps he has experienced along the way. (Neville had never previously worked with animation.)
Williams is not only the film’s subject — and opens up as never before during interviews with Neville in which they are both LEGO-ized — but also one of its producers. That undoubtedly helped to pave the way for the film to incorporate many of the hit tunes that Williams has performed and/or produced over the course of his career — including the one with which he is most closely associated, “Happy” — as well as two new tunes. One in particular, “Piece by Piece,” which features the gospel singer Princess Anne, could be a strong contender for the best original song Oscar.
Speaking of Oscars, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hasn’t always known what to do with films that blur genre lines. 2008’s Waltz with Bashir, for instance, was a wonderful animated doc that ended up with only a best international feature Oscar nom. 2021’s Flee was the first animated film ever nominated for the best documentary feature Oscar and the first documentary feature ever nominated for the best animated feature Oscar. A documentary feature has never been nominated for the best picture Oscar. And only three animated features — 1991’s Beauty and the Beast, 2009’s Up and 2010’s Toy Story 3 — ever have been.
But Focus Features, which will release Piece by Piece wide on Oct. 11, and the teams supporting Williams and Neville, intend to push Piece by Piece not only for best animated feature, best documentary feature and best original song recognition, but also for inclusion in the 10-slot best picture category. Given how thin this year’s field of contenders is looking, and how much love and admiration is out there for Williams and Neville, I wouldn’t rule out that possibility.
