Can I get a Witness?

Opening Party Friday March 7 @ 7 pm

Preceded by Big Trees

Sci-Fi/Drama
1 hr 50 min – Not rated – Released 2024

Set in the not-too-distant future (and shot in Powell River and the qathet Regional District), Can I Get a Witness? presents a world without war, poverty, or hunger. How did humanity arrive at this utopia? By mandating that everyone commit ritualistic suicide once they hit the age of 50. In this  near-future world, climate change is mitigated, global poverty is eradicated, and all species on the planet can live in relative peace and equality. The world has walked back on consumption and technology, and recalibrated to sustainable societies with smaller carbon footprints. People live happy, modest lives.

Sandra Oh and Keira Jang play Ellie and Kiah, a mother and daughter both dealing with new challenges. Kiah is a teenager starting a new job as a “documenter,” an artist who’s assigned to witness and memorialize the final days and moments of those in her community about to turn 50. She is teamed up with a partner named Daniel (Joel Oulette), who handles the more technical aspects of the “end of life” ceremony that everyone takes part in once they hit the not-so-magic number. Speaking of which, Ellie is closing in on 50, and, while Kiah is busy learning the ropes of her new job, her mother is busy trying to make the most of her final days, most prominently by making sure she passes down all she can to her loving daughter.

Director Ann Marie Fleming has structured this post apocalyptic-styled tale as a character drama, despite the rather complicated political and spiritual underpinnings of the story. We are watching two young people, a potential couple, get to know each other, while simultaneously responding to being witnesses of highly ritualized deaths. We are also watching a mother and daughter mourning together, and sharing little intimacies as only mothers and daughters can. It isn’t intended as a realistic depiction of tomorrow. Nor can it be considered a satire, although Kurt Vonnegut fans will likely respond well to its social commentary. It’s best described as a futuristic fable in the tradition of Ray Bradbury, an extrapolation of current trends done in a poetic fashion.

The film is a masterclass in thought provocation. It isn’t judgy or preachy. It just poses a question; one that will stay with audiences for a long time after the credits roll. Oh gives a career defining performance, bold and emotional in how her intimate collaboration with Fleming approaches the subject matter. The film is dressed up in marvelous mise-en-scene, every set providing decades of backstory with a single shot.