I’m just going to say it: What the hell is going on in Pica Towers?
This dark and twisted animated trilogy explores plot and characters in a way that almost leaves the audience uncomfortable. You’re given just enough plot to hit the highlights, but not enough to know the whole story. Therefore, it is up to the viewer to piece together how the characters correlate and what is happening.
But I can’t help embracing the naïvety of the robot dog throughout this entire story, and the blind man’s ignorance as he picks up his cane sitting beside the stabbed robot. A robot hung after hanging another robot, and the shooting of the unsuspecting pizza delivery guy leaves the impression that we are watching a torture chamber of sorts. An endless cycle of torture, if you will. The overlap of narrative between the first and second, then the second and third shorts ties it all together.
All sounds echo, giving the space a creepy and hollow feeling. The perspectives are high, the perspectives are low. We are watching through long shots, peeking around corners and close ups that redefine privacy. Heavy shadows bathe the black and white canvas, that is more realistically covered in red blood. You don’t see it as red, but it feels red.
I feel like I need to take a shower now.