What would you do if you knew how many years you had to live?
“Can I Get a Witness?” takes place in a future world where answering that question is mandatory: your death is planned for you and happens once you reach the age of 50. Leading up to your End of Life ceremony, your job is to assist those who are at that point.
In the film, the government created this society after the world almost ended in 2025, about 20 years before the events of the film. A ban on technology of any kind was put in place in addition to the planned deaths to regulate Earth’s environment and not cause it any extreme harm.
The film follows the life of Kiah, played by Keira Jang, as she embarks on her job as a portrait artist during EOL ceremonies.
We meet Kiah and her mom Ellie, played by Sandra Oh, on the morning of Kiah’s first day on the job. They live in a small house filled with art and nature, and no electricity.
Daniel, an EOL witness played by Joel Oulette, rushes into the house ready to teach Kiah how to perform the ceremony. The story mainly follows Kiah and Daniel as they go through multiple EOL ceremonies, allowing people to pass peacefully, whether they choose to or not.
Overall, this film is simple and cute but nothing profound. Director Ann Marie Fleming made a story about true connections during our lifetime, but she didn’t make it depressing like you would expect. The pops of sketch animations and bright objects make for a society that is the exact opposite of ours.
Oh did a wonderful job capturing the stillness that her society brought. With no phone to scroll on and no car to drive anywhere, it really did create a space that didn’t seem so bad. In the scenes with Oh there was a lot of silence, which was a nice contrast from Kiah’s scenes with people dying.
The idea of a non-technological world doesn’t seem sad or lonely, but it seems quiet, and sometimes I think it would be nice. Being able to solely focus on what you’re on Earth to do and only hear the opinions of the people physically near you sounds like a dream right now.
The connection between Kiah and her mom was undeniably the main plot point and was probably the only aspect of the story that stayed with me. Having a connection with someone that you’ve known your whole life, like a family member or friend, is one of the strongest relationships that can be created. The only difference between this film and real life is that we don’t know how much time we have.
The characters are constantly discussing this jarring government rule because if someone wants to live longer, they don’t have that choice. This film forces us to reflect on the choices we make each day, ultimately leaving us considering if we truly do have enough time.
Abby Madsen can be reached at mads3817@stthomas.edu.
