When you have science fiction movies podcast, it’s hard to resist their siren call at a film festival. Especially when you know that the film is more likely to focus on ideas instead of spectacle. Which is the long way of saying, I was intrigued by CAN I GET A WITNESS? playing at the 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival and did something about it.
And it’s accurate to say that CAN I GET A WITNESS? is a film of ideas, albeit the ideas that are explored aren’t necessarily big world building ones, but more existential ones. Sometime in the future, in a UTOPIA / DYSTOPIA, people mandatorily and apparently voluntarily, give up their lives at age 50. In exchange, the planet has apparently healed itself, there’s no war, and there’s no want. There’s also no electricity, no travel, and much of the common culture of the world has been lost.
It’s also first day on the job as a witness for Kiah (Kiera Jang). Her job is to record the final moments of people at their end of life. For whom, is never really explained. She’s accompanied by the hunky and experienced Daniel (Joel Oulette) with whom she immediately bonds. And Kiah’s absence exacerbates the few remaining days of her mother Ellie (Sandra Oh).
There are incidents that kind of further draw out the plot, such as it is, but it’s really about what are we willing to give up for the greater good and how do we find happiness in our limited time on Earth. And, also, what are we passing on as our legacy. All told as a series of vignettes as the witnesses go about their duties and Kiah tries to wrap her head around what she’s being asked to do.
It’s something of a gentle comedy with the drawings and the general world coming to life with animation and repeated renditions of I Don’t Want to Set the World On Fire by The Ink Spots and warm cinematography focused on the natural world. It’s the second film from Ann Marie Fleming and it grapples with some very big ideas, even if it doesn’t necessarily do so in the way you were expecting.
Kiah is the main character, but the standout performance is Sandra Oh who is clearly treating every moment as if its precious. Even moments just in the garden by herself. There are tinges of regrets and satisfaction and it’s the portrait of someone coming to peace with all the complications of their lives. And perhaps living it with a wisdom that they didn’t have in their younger days.
And that’s kind of the big theme of the film and perhaps why the situation isn’t going to last. The people who are passing on all have wisdom for the younger generation and knowledge to share. And perhaps the younger generation isn’t ready to receive that. Daniel kind of scoffs at the idea that the people he meets all seem to want to pass on what they’ve learned, without considering if it might mean much more than these portraits they are recording for seemingly no one. The older generation also has preserved some artifacts, like the Marx Brothers’ DUCK SOUP, but the younger generation just doesn’t get it and would rather watch ZOOLANDER. George Santayana said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” and that seems to be the doom of the film’s status quo, no matter how well intentioned. In a time of plenty, why continue to make sacrifices? But, how do you live a fulfilling life will always be a relevant question and that’s the one that lingers.
While I wouldn’t say it’s a complete success, I feel the satire of the material is not tapped enough, it works through the strengths of its performances and its gentle tone which doesn’t seem to think that the choices that lead to this world are anything to celebrate. The cost, especially in the mother/daughter relationship, is still tragic. But life is full of promise and moments to savor all the same.
The 2025 Milwaukee Film Festival ran from April 24, 2025 until May 8, 2025. However, Milwaukee Film runs its theaters 365 days a year and tickets to many upcoming films can be purchased at MKEFILM.ORG.
