Impressive Visuals Let Down By Excessive Nudity
The Witness could be one of the best episodes in Love, Death & Robots’ anthology but excessive nudity holds this one back from being a better title. Armed with an impressively unique aesthetic, The Witness uses its simple story as a springboard to really show off the artistic prowess of the episode. The story here begins with a woman sensing, and then witnessing, a murder before fleeing from the killer through the streets of an unknown Asian city. As neon lights glitter all around, the woman races through back-alleys and glitzy sidewalks before hiding out at her place of work. From here, the series takes a turn toward the dark world of desire and sex as the man enters the building and finds himself at the mercy of those in charge. As the woman and man then leave the establishment after a couple of provocative and sexually suggestive moments, they run into each other again and the chase continues. This builds up to a climactic finale and another interesting twist where the roles are reversed and the woman winds up killing the man while across the street, that same man witnesses the murder. While this endless loop twist is something that’s been done a few times before, its inclusion here is certainly unexpected. It works really well as a support for the main drive of the episode which is really the unique aesthetic and visual flair. The art style borrows heavily from the recent Into The Spider-Verse film too, merging comic book text and impact shots with both motion capture and CGI. The result is a hedonistic trip that utilizes a dizzying range of different shots and camera movements, reinforcing the feeling of movement and things not quite being right. It’s a really clever idea and one that’s executed to perfection. Now, it is worth noting that The Witness has an awful lot of nudity in it. Expect full frontal shots throughout the episode and whilst the moments inside the club make sense, the ensuing chase sequences outside feel distracting and jarring as the woman’s unbuttoned shirt blows behind her, exposing everything for all to see. It’s a blemish on an otherwise decent episode and something that certainly takes away some of the allure here. Still, The Witness is another good episode and for the art style alone, makes it a must-watch, flaws and all.
