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      ‘Piece by Piece’ Review: Pharrell Williams’s Life, in Legos

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      The producer and musician gets the biographical documentary treatment — with an unexpected twist.Credit where it’s due: In a sea of formulaic biographical documentaries about musicians, “Piece by Piece,” about the life of the hitmaker and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams, stands out boldly. Not because it doesn’t follow the usual narrative formula. It absolutely does: humble beginnings, rocket toward stardom, crash and then, inevitably, resurrection. That’s all so standard to the genre that it’s practically calcified.No, “Piece by Piece” pops because everyone — including Williams and the film’s director, Morgan Neville — is played by animated Legos.This choice, which was Williams’s idea, comes off less gimmicky than it sounds. Legos have proven to be remarkably versatile utility players in the past decade. They’ve performed as Ninjas and Batman and themselves ever since “The Lego Movie” (2014) opened and became both a staggering commercial hit and an instant classic. The movie was clever and inventive, but the choice of toy worked, too: Legos are recognizable, beloved and, most important, endlessly open to reinterpretation. There’s no reason not to mingle your Lego Hogwarts set with your Lego Star Wars set in the shadow of your Lego Eiffel Tower alongside your little cousin’s Duplo trucks, and that’s the fun of them — the potential for chaos and imagination.For “Piece by Piece,” the Legos are taking on a new challenge: playing real people. Animated feature-length documentaries have become more common in recent years — “Waltz With Bashir” (2008) and “Flee” (2021) are two significant examples — but here the animation is aggressively nonrealistic, on purpose. The subjects, which include Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake and Daft Punk, show up rendered as cylinder-headed, block-bodied minifigures, Lego parlance for the people-shaped pieces. Minifigure Williams and Minifigure Neville sit across from each other, chatting about the movie and Williams’s life. The voices are real — Neville interviewed the plethora of collaborators and artists that Williams has worked for and with — but we only ever see their Lego versions, with some distinguishing facial hair or outfit.The playfulness fits Williams’s aesthetic, which ranges from producing beats and albums for that dizzying array of artists to recording his own megahit “Happy” to collaborating on lines of streetwear, fragrances, eyeglasses, sneakers and skin care. He’s clearly bursting with ideas all the time, and that’s the narrative of the film: This is a man who never stops dreaming of ways to remix the world. It’s his playground, his sandbox. Legos fit right in.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Daytime Revolution’ Review: Coffee and Counterculture

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      John Lennon and Yoko Ono invade middle-American living rooms in this cute but shallow documentary.For one largely forgotten week in 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono transformed the most popular show on daytime television into a forum for ideas that its unsuspecting audience rarely encountered. Joining as the co-hosts of “The Mike Douglas Show,” they repurposed entertainment as a Trojan horse for activist agendas (antiwar, pro-civil rights), briefly bridging the yawning chasm between mainstream America and a counterculture that the Nixon Administration was actively engaged in repressing.That chasm is the real story of “Daytime Revolution,” one that Erik Nelson’s charmingly relaxed, almost cozy chronicle of that week strains to elucidate. Given the flammable reputations of some of the show’s guests, like Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale, the most shocking takeaway from the movie is how tame it feels. The mood is overwhelmingly congenial and playful, with Ono’s dippier contributions drawing titters from the audience and occasional bafflement from her perpetually gum-chewing husband.Everyone, in fact — even a subdued, impossibly handsome Ralph Nader — seems on their best behavior, if slightly on edge, as though expecting an F.B.I. raid at any second. (They probably knew that Lennon was already on Nixon’s naughty list.) Musical segments featuring a vivacious Chuck Berry and the magnificent Broadway performer Vivian Reed keep things grooving and lighten the earnestness, as do engaging present-day interviews with Reed and other surviving guests.But for “Daytime Revolution” to live up to its name and become more than a curious cultural artifact would require a richer historical context, an explanation of why these people mattered and why their views were so feared by the White House.“I did not want to make a film about the thing — I wanted the film to be the thing,” Nelson states in the press notes. As a result, the movie’s quiet star is Douglas himself. Whether gently asking a tense Rubin about his upbringing, or helping Ono with her “box of smiles,” Douglas’s kindness and intellectual curiosity are more compelling than any political argument.Daytime RevolutionNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes. In theaters. More

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      in Music

      The Quick-Witted, Self-Lacerating James Blunt Would Like a Word

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      Twenty years after his hit “You’re Beautiful” turned him into an overnight star, the British singer and songwriter takes his music — and his haters — to task.Twenty years ago this month, James Blunt was an unknown singer releasing his first album. The song that rapidly elevated him out of obscurity was “You’re Beautiful,” a lovelorn rhapsody about falling for a stranger on the subway while high on drugs, which hit No. 1 in 15 countries, including the United States. The smash helped turn his 2004 LP “Back to Bedlam” into a triple-platinum success.As Blunt moved from unknown to highly known, there was a surprise reveal: The slight, diminutive man who wrote “You’re Beautiful” had been a captain in the British army, and served in Kosovo. Interviewers soon learned he also had an acid tongue and a quick wit. And in recent years, with evident zest, he’s turned it on people who troll him on social media; his retorts make him sound like a skilled standup comic who specializes in crowd work. (When someone posted on X, “My mom hates James Blunt,” he retorted, “Because I won’t pay the child support?” At this point, only masochists post @ Blunt.)Blunt has released seven studio albums; the most recent, “Who We Used to Be,” arrived in 2023. Later this year, he’s touring Australia, Asia and Europe, with a return to the United States planned for June 2025. An irreverent documentary about him, “One Brit Wonder,” premiered on Netflix UK in June, with distribution in the U.S. still pending.In a recent video interview, he reflected on the 20th anniversary of “Back to Bedlam” from a tiny office in the London pub he owns, the Fox & Pheasant. (The tavern plays his music five minutes before closing, he joked, so people will leave as quickly as possible.) These are edited excerpts from the conversation.In the documentary, there are lots of instances of people insulting you. Your tour manager calls you “a narcissistic psychopath.” Your mother describes you as “politely ruthless.” And you are likened to Marmite.I like Marmite.You’re aware that most people don’t?It’s a highly lucrative company, so they must be doing something right.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘The Menendez Brothers’ Review: Reframing a Case

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      To the extent this documentary about Lyle and Erik Menendez has appeal, it is of the tabloid variety.“The Menendez Brothers” doesn’t so much relitigate the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez as reframe it. In 1996, the brothers were convicted of murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in Beverly Hills in 1989. That was their second trial. The first had ended in 1994 with two deadlocked juries, each assigned to deliberate over one sibling.This documentary, directed by Alejandro Hartmann and released on Netflix less than a month after the streamer put out Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s dramatization of these events, opens with the hook of “exclusive interviews” with the brothers, who “have not told their story together in nearly 30 years.” But its main contentions break down along two lines.One is that, following the #MeToo movement, the public might be more receptive to the brothers’ claim of “imperfect self-defense”: They had argued that their father had a history of sexual and psychological abuse that led them to an honest but mistaken belief that their parents would kill them.The other is that the context of the trials mattered. The first trial was televised in what the film portrays as a warm-up for the news media circus that would surround the O.J. Simpson case. The second trial began after Simpson had been acquitted of murder; the movie suggests that public criticism of that verdict interfered with the Menendezes’ getting a fair shake.No Netflix documentary could offer sufficient information to assess those claims, and this one, which glosses over even mild complexities like the separate juries in the first trial, feels incomplete. (Last week George Gascón, the Los Angeles County district attorney, announced that he was reviewing the case.) To the extent the film has appeal, it is of the tabloid variety. Betty Oldfield, an alternate juror in the first trial, recalls corresponding with the imprisoned Erik Menendez and receiving an oil painting that he had done. Pamela Bozanich, a deputy district attorney who prosecuted the first trial, says she “couldn’t find anyone to say anything nice about Jose Menendez except for his secretary.”The Menendez BrothersNot rated. Running time: 1 hour 56 minutes. Watch on Netflix. More

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      ‘Pavements,’ ‘My Undesirable Friends’ and Other Documentaries at New York Film Festival

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      In epic takes like “My Undesirable Friends” and playful biopics like “Pavements,” the vital art of the documentary is on full display.Documentaries face a great paradox in 2024: They proliferate, but most nonfiction filmmakers will tell you they’re also harder to get made. Streaming services groan under the weight of true crime and biographical films, but most feel fast, formulaic and shoddy, designed specifically to throw on while watchers scroll on their phones. Meanwhile, directors who aspire to challenge audiences and craft art from reality say that they struggle to find money and distribution — and that it’s gotten markedly tougher in just the past few years.That’s why the festival circuit is so important to independent and international documentarians. It can be their best shot at reaching audiences and, perhaps, finding a distributor. But I notice that at many major film festivals, nonfiction can feel like a second-class citizen, unless a celebrity is involved. The films are often programmed in documentary-specific categories, as if they need to be kept away from the “real” movies. Some festivals, like Cannes, barely program any nonfiction at all.Thankfully, the New York Film Festival is not one of those. This year’s edition includes 18 feature-length (and longer) documentaries and 10 nonfiction shorts, and they’re placed alongside fiction in various sections rather than siloed. And while the festival, which rarely features world premieres, has only two this year, both are nonfiction.Technically there are two celebrity-focused documentaries on the slate (unless you count the delightful botanist Mark Brown, of the equally delightful “7 Walks With Mark Brown,” as a celebrity). The more conventional is “Elton John: Never Too Late,” directed by R.J. Cutler and David Furnish, the singer’s husband. The other is Alex Ross Perry’s gonzo “Pavements,” about the indie-rock band Pavement, which involves a little reflection and history from the band but mostly a bunch of elements that mess with the audience: footage from a Pavement jukebox musical that was briefly mounted downtown in 2022 (I saw it) specifically for this movie; a dramatic movie about the band, starring Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”) as the lead singer Stephen Malkmus, that may or may not actually exist; a museum exhibition of Pavement memorabilia. It’s terrifically strange and entertaining even if you (like me) have never really been a fan — and you’ll get a lightly satirical skewering of the whole musician biopic genre, to boot.“Youth (Hard Times) is one of two films from Wang Bing showing at the festival.via NYFFBut where “Pavements” is goofy and doesn’t take itself too seriously, several other documentaries tackle serious subjects with aplomb, and run times to match. “Exergue — on Documenta 14,” directed by Dimitris Athiridis, is a whopping 14 hours, presented in chapters. It’s a riveting and often dryly funny film about Adam Szymczyk — the artistic director of the 2017 edition of Documenta, the highly influential every-five-years exhibition of contemporary art — as he works with his team of curators to put together that show. While there’s a specific event at its center, “Exergue” is also a formidable survey of the challenges facing the contemporary art world as it wrestles with racism, colonialism, politics and power.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      What’s on TV This Week: ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ and ‘Abbott Elementary’

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      Bravo airs its reality show about “yachties,” and ABC is back with its Emmy-winning sitcom.For those who still enjoy a cable subscription, here is a selection of cable and network TV shows, movies and specials that broadcast this week, Oct. 7-13. Details and times are subject to change.Monday60 MINUTES: ELECTION SPECIAL 8 p.m. on CBS. This program, in which CBS sits down with the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, has been a bit of an election-season tradition for over 50 years. And with no more debates on the docket, this would have been another opportunity for voters to hear from the candidates before Election Day. But on Tuesday, according to CBS, former President Donald J. Trump backed out, declining to be interviewed by the correspondent Scott Pelley. Vice President Kamala Harris is still scheduled to be interviewed by Bill Whitaker.BELOW DECK SAILING YACHT 9 p.m. on Bravo. For a while, the fate of this “Below Deck” spinoff seemed precarious. The last season aired through July 2023, before the boatswain, Gary King, was accused of sexual misconduct by a member of the production team, Samantha Suarez, in an exposé for Rolling Stone. The next month, King didn’t appear at BravoCon, a convention where fans can meet Bravolebrities, so viewers wondered if he was off the show. But just like that, King is going to be back on our screens with very little explanation. At the time of the accusation, Bravo said: “The concerns Ms. Suarez raised in July 2022 were investigated at that time and action was taken based on the findings.” King will be joined again by the chief stew Daisy Kelliher and, of course, Captain Glenn Shephard, a fan favorite.TuesdayGraceland, the mansion once owned by Elvis Presley, in Memphis, Tennessee.Jeff Mitchell/ReutersAN OPRAH SPECIAL: THE PRESLEYS — ELVIS, LISA MARIE AND RILEY 8 p.m. on CBS. For this special, Oprah Winfrey traveled to Tennessee to sit down with Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley and an actress in her own right. This is the first time that Keough has been interviewed since her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, died unexpectedly in January 2023. Lisa Marie had been writing a memoir, “From Here to the Great Unknown,” which Keough finished on her behalf after her death.WednesdayThe cast of “Abbott Elementary.”Gilles Mingasson/DisneyWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Food and Country’ Offers a Close Look at How America Feeds Itself

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      “Food and Country” argues that our food production systems don’t work and offers potential solutions.In the early days of the pandemic, I accidentally ordered five chickens and three dozen giant, fragrant Amalfi Coast lemons. I thought I’d ordered one five-pound chicken and three lemons from a local restaurant supplier who’d had to quickly pivot to home cooks like me. But between my frazzled, stressed brain and their usual order quantities, wires got crossed.It worked out fine — we just roasted a lot of chicken and made delicious limoncello — but I found myself thinking about that blurry, confusing time while watching “Food and Country” (in theaters), a new documentary about all the ways that America’s food systems are broken and all the ways they can be fixed. Directed by Laura Gabbert, the film finds its guide in Ruth Reichl, the eminent food writer (and former New York Times restaurant critic). She is one of the nation’s most curious and well-connected voices on food, and she spends a lot of the movie speaking with growers, farmers, ranchers and restaurateurs in those familiar little Zoom windows.It turns out the pandemic was the right impetus for this film. For many Americans, used to picking up our groceries at the local supermarket, the disruption of, for example, deliveries and meat processing meant that items were available suddenly, sporadically or not at all. My five-chicken order was a result of realizing that my usual grocery delivery service was booked up for weeks and, as I was avoiding stores, that I needed to find another method of getting food.This was a very mild inconvenience, and it soon resolved itself. But experiences like this (along with sourdough-baking and scallion-growing fads) reminded many of us of what we take for granted. For those whose livelihoods depend on food production, though, cataclysm is always on the horizon. In this documentary Reichl explores with experts how our systems became broken over the postwar decades and, as several participants say, led to most farmers and ranchers barely breaking even while the big companies that process and distribute their products profited. She and her guests also cover a dizzying array of big issues: historic racism against Black farmers and the present-day ramifications; the plight of restaurant owners trying to stay afloat while treating workers fairly; farmers’ innovative efforts to bring sustainable, healthy crops to their communities.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Blink’ Review: The Last Things They May See

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      In this travel documentary, two parents take their children on a spectacular world tour before a rare genetic condition may cause blindness.“Blink” is almost shameless in its earnest simplicity: Two parents decide to take their family to see the world after finding out that three of their four children have a rare genetic condition that can lead to impaired vision. Tears may flow for you, too, in what could (positively) be called a weepie travel documentary from Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, who worked together on the Academy Award-winning film “Navalny.”Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier wish for their children to store up visual memories for the future, even as night-vision problems have already set on. Accompanied by the film team for 76 days of their yearlong trip, the close-knit clan from Montreal fly and hike and hot-air-balloon and camel ride through Egypt, Thailand, Namibia and Nepal, among other places, including a fraught cable car ride in Ecuador.For Stenson and Roher, their film is also about a fear of loss more generally, as well as about growing up and leaving things behind, the fleeting nature of experience and parental anxieties around care and control. Detractors can cry “tourism” — the rock formations in White Desert National Park in Egypt are transporting — but “Blink” keeps escaping any pat framing to tap into a deeper ache.That’s accomplished by doing more with less when it comes to parental musings and kids saying the darnedest things. The directors also aren’t afraid to kick the 84-minute movie into a trot now and again. Life comes at you fast, after all, and “Blink” reminds us to look at each day as if it might be the last.BlinkRated PG. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. In theaters. More