Part sci-fi and part teen coming-of-age, Can I Get a Witness? is the latest feature by indie filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming. On the cusp of adulthood, 16-year-old Kiah (Keira Jang) begins her first day as a “witness,” a role in which talented young artists depict the end-of-life ceremonies for various adults in a not-too-distant future.
In the film’s serenely dystopian setting, humans have found that the solution to world injustices is to cut short their own lives at age 50 so that resources can be equitably shared and the global ecosystem can be protected. Other things that have been virtually eliminated from society are motorized vehicles (far too noxious for the environment) as well as smartphones, computers, and printers. Kiah’s mother (Sandra Oh) and her new mentor/guide Daniel (Joel Oulette) have long accepted this trade-off for the greater good, but Kiah is troubled by the things that she sees as she steps out into the world.
While Can I Get a Witness? has an instantly intriguing premise, it fails to fulfill its potential as a fun bit of speculative fiction. Hampered by a sparse storyline and a too simple-minded protagonist, the film becomes unnecessarily distracted by a teen romance between Kiah and Daniel (who is as clean-cut and unsettling as a Mormon evangelist — and as welcome a presence upon people’s front porches as well).
Kiah reads as too unaware of how the world around her operates as she begins her first day at work, which begs the question of what this society’s education system is like if they are restricted from using electricity or travelling internationally. If society does not have the ability to progress technologically or have access to its own history, doesn’t it run the risk of regressing and going the wrong way?
The film presents suicide at age 50 as the solution to world issues (climate change, species extinction, natural disasters, war, poverty, etc.) caused by the anthropocene, which refers to the geological age in which humans have shaped the environment. It’s a case for extreme self-sacrifice that most people in our individualistic, freedom-obsessed world would never consider as a solution to human-made problems. In order to make the message stick, Can I Get a Witness? should have leaned far more heavily into its dystopian tones or think a bit more deeply about the impact this kind of decision would have on the world and people’s mindsets.
As Kiah bears witness to different government-sanctioned end-of-life ceremonies, she encounters a narrow gamut of human emotions. Most adults have beautiful and peaceful rituals as they quietly accept their deaths; those who rebel against their own sanctioned deaths are treated like mild threats and get quickly resolved in unconvincing ways. The film clings to a strangely ungrounded sense of beauty, which is echoed in whimsical, hand-drawn-style animations that occasionally appear on screen when people die. These child-like embellishments often undercut the seriousness of the film’s themes. However, the film’s tender lens and considered sound design adds to the pleasant atmospherics, which is why it’s still watchable.
In addition to the filmmaker’s too-light touch, more interesting ideas and mature characters don’t get enough time to shine. Can I Get a Witness? could have done more with the outstanding Oh and the other adults reaching their end-of-life ceremonies, which is where the true humanity shines, and less with the teenagers who can’t quite grasp what living and dying are really about.
Unfortunately, a budding romance between the teenage leads eats up precious screen time, which leaves the film stretched a bit too long at times. With these improvements, the pacing definitely could have tightened up.
While the underpinning judgment might be valid, Can I Get a Witness? won’t sway the jury.
