The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
Film round-up: November 7, 2024
Lego synaesthesia, a tender portrait of poverty, bear-faced capers and premature Santa: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Piece By Piece, Bird, Paddington in Peru and Red One
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
New releases from Thorpe and Morrison, Daria Kulesh, and Will Finn and Rosie Calvert
RINA ARYA confronts the brutal operation of Francis Bacon’s approach to portraiture
Emphasising his continuous engagement in labour movement struggles, ALISTAIR FINDLAY salutes John Foster’s contribution as activist, strategist, intellectual and defender of the Morning Star
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
Piece By Piece (PG)
Directed by Morgan Neville
★★★★
THE closing film at this year’s London Film Festival, Morgan Neville’s psychedelic and innovative documentary chronicles the life of cultural icon Pharrell Williams through a Lego lens.
Williams, his wife, his close friends and colleagues including renowned stars such as Jay-Z, Missy Elliot, Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg all appear as Lego figures as they are interviewed although these artists apparently weren’t informed of that little detail at the time.
The loud and brightly coloured Lego settings are initially very distracting as you are captivated by the colourful figures and backdrops rather than what they are saying. It isn’t until you are halfway through the film that the novelty wears off.
More from this author
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
ANGUS REID time-travels back to times when Gay Liberation was radical and allied seamlessly to an anti-racist, anti-establishment movement
ANGUS REID speaks to historian Siphokazi Magadla about the women who fought apartheid and their impact on South African society
Similar stories
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Better Man, How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, Mufasa: The Lion King, Dolphin Boy
Hallucinogenic homosexuality, a quantum thriller, airport shenanigans and feminist Tolkein: MARIA DUARTE reviews Queer, The Universal Theory, Carry On and Lord of the Rings: The War of The Rohirrim
Asexual tenderness, Mad Maxine, fake hitmen and time-travel: The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Slow, Furiosa, Hit Man and The Present
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger; Our Mothers; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes; and The Almond and the Seahorse