Tribeca 2014: In 'Beyond the Brick,' Lego as cultural juggernaut

NEW YORK -- The Lego Movie this winter reawakened many people to the colorful plastic bricks they hadnt thought about since childhood. But a raft of people inside and outside the Danish company have been clued in to its pleasures for years, as a new movie gleefully and sometimes astonishingly documents.

The film, "Beyond the Brick," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival several days ago, is a playful if decidedly soft-lensed look at all things Lego. Directed by Daniel Junge and Kief Davidson and narrated by Jason Bateman, Brick looks at the subculture of Lego or perhaps, given how dominant it appears to have become, the culture of Lego.

As Brick demonstrates, hundreds of thousands of fans build and tinker in their homes, then commune over the Internet or at regular Brick Cons gatherings of like-minded souls who obsess over pieces and creations the way superhero fans immerse themselves in Comic-Con.

PHOTOS: Tribeca Film Festival 2014 | Scene

I was surprised most by at how Lego brings people together, said Davidson in an interview, which included Junge. When we first set out to make the movie, it seemed like something people do on their own. But it really is a way for people to connect.

Known for more serious fare (Junge won an Oscar for his doc Saving Face while Davidson was nominated for "Open Heart"), the filmmakers started this project after looking into a film on just one Lego convention before realizing there was a larger story to tell. They also, like many of its potential viewers, have been reconnecting to the colorful bricks via the young people in their lives.

They eventually reached out to the company, which, in the spirit that also had them open up to Hollywood with its first-ever feature, was willing to cooperate.

The directors' examination of the quirky company can be somewhat light. The movie does cover Lego Group's rough period -- foundering in the 1990s as it scaled back the building aspects of its product and had yet to discover wide-scale licensing deals but mostly emphasizes the creativity and open-sourced attitude that has made it the second-biggest toymaker in the world, with the company sometimes employing designs of its fans and even hiring a few. (The filmmakers, who hope the movie can strike a theatrical-release deal, said Lego gave them autonomy and had only minor factual notes after seeing a rough cut for the first time last month.)

VIDEO: Tribeca Film Festival 2014 trailers

But its the Lego devotees who form the movies spine: the AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego) and others who obsess and build. (Lest one think its a geeks-only pursuit, the filmmakers also show some unlikely devotees, including Dwight Howard of the NBA's Houston Rockets.)

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Tribeca 2014: In 'Beyond the Brick,' Lego as cultural juggernaut