Underplayed Gems

Piece by Piece (2005)

Piece by Piece poster
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
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More films like this

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)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.