Piece by Piece (2005)

Original title

Piece By Piece

Directed by

Nic Hill

Genre

documentary

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 19m

Rating

6.0 of 10 from 2 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary looks at the graffiti scene in San Francisco from the early 1980s to 2004. It covers the history and culture of the city's graffiti artists, with narration from the artist Senor One.

informativereflectivelyricalnostalgicartisticdocumentary-stylethoughtfulcity-focused

What happens

Piece by Piece is a 2005 American documentary film directed by Nic Hill. The film documents San Francisco's graffiti culture from the early 1980s to 2004. It is narrated by the San Francisco graffiti artist Senor One, better known as Renos. The San Francisco Bay Guardian's Cheryl Eddy singled the film out as the highlight of the 2006 Hi/Lo film festival, calling it "an educational experience" and "a thoughtful document". In a full review for that same paper, Johnny Ray Huston said it was "a thorough history that still makes time ... for abstract, lyrical flowing passages". Huston complained that sections such as those featuring Tie One or Reminisce could make movies in themselves, and wished to see more detailing of artists' entries into the legitimate art world. He concluded that the film and director "succeeded at a mighty task" and were interested in displaying "a deep but entertaining understanding of the city as both a historical site and a nexus for contemporary change". Rory L. Aronsky of Film Threat wrote that the documentary "gets this graffiti culture completely right", while for Dennis Harvey of Variety, it was "an excellent overview of two decades' graffiti in San Francisco". (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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